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THE    LIFE    AND    WRITINGS 


OF 


ST.    JOHN. 


VIEW    OF    RATING    FROM    THE    UPPER    PART   OF   PORT    SCAIA 

Ucmatt 


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THE 


LIFE    AND    WRITINGS 


OF 


ST.   JOHN. 


BY 

JAMES     M.     MACDONALD,    D.D. 

PRINCETON,   NEW  JERSEY. 


1-DITED,    WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION,    BY 
THE   VERY  REVEREND 

}.   S.    HOWSON,   D.D. 

DEAN  OF  CHESTER. 


0  virlp  Trdvras  aylovs  •fryaTrrjfji.faos,  6  ffrrjpi^as  rrjv  &irb  Trepdruj'  Ttjs  olKOVfJ.{vr)s    EK- 
,  /cat  ^0/>d£as  rot  T&V  alperiKuv  o-ru/iara. 

CHRYSOSTOM,  De  Pseudo-Proph.,  etc. 


SCRIBNER,     ARMSTRONG    &     CO., 
743  &  745,  BROADWAY,  NEW  YORK. 

1877. 
[/4//  rights  reserved^ 


BUTLEE  &  TANK-BE, 

THE  SBLWOOD  FEINTING  WOEKS, 

FEOMB,  AND  LONDON. 


COPYRIGHT  BY 
SCRIBNER,  ARMSTRONG   &  CO.. 

1877. 


PREFATORY    NOTE. 


No  one  whose  attention  has  been  turned  to  the  fact  that  it 
was  not  so  much  the  object  of  our  Lord's  ministry  to  produce 
effects  directly  on  the  minds  of  the  people  at  large,  (although 
these  effects  were,  as  a  matter  of  course,  incidental  and  con- 
stantly visible,)  as  it  was  the  object  of  that  ministry  to  prepare 
His  disciples  for  the  functions  of  the  apostolic  office,  will  for  a 
moment  think  that  too  great  prominence  has  been  given  to 
that  portion  of  St.  John's  life  spent  under  the  immediate  training 
and  discipline  of  the  Great  Master  and  Teacher  Himself. 

Messrs.  Scribner,  Armstrong  &  Co.  have,  with  the  entire 
concurrence  of  the  author,  made  an  arrangement  with  Messrs. 
Hodder  and  Stoughton,  of  London,  for  the  publication  of  this 
work  in  Great  Britain. 


PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


LIST  OF  MAPS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PATMOS.    Map  and  View     .        .        .        .        .        . 

To/ace  page 

IMPERIUM  ROMANORUM,  LATISSIME  PATENS.    Map  ....  1 

BUST  OP  TIBER'IUS  C^ISAR 6 

SITE  OP  BETHSAIDA 16 

JERUSALEM 24 

PALESTINE  IN  TIME  OP  CHRIST.    Map         .....  32 

CANA  OP  GALILEE .        .48 

ROAD  FROM  JERUSALEM  TO  JERICHO    ......  52 

JERUSALEM,  WALLS  OP 55 

SHECHEM    ...........  62 

GffiSAREA  PHILIPPI 78 

GARDEN  OF  GETHSEMANE 92 

BETHANY 116 

SAMARIA 131 

BUST  OF  CALIGULA 133 

ASIA  MINOR,  SHOWING  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES.    Map   .        .        .  137 

BUST  OF  NERO 143 

EPHESUS ,   .  147 

ST.  JOHN.    (THORWALDSEN'S  MARBLES) 151 

THYATIRA 167 

PHILADELPHIA 189 

LAODICEA 192 

BUST  OF  JULIUS  CJESAB 204 

BUST  OP  AUGUSTUS 218 

OLD  TYRE  .  241 


viii  LIST   OP   MAPS  AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

To  face  page 

ST.  JOHN'S  TEAVELS.     Map 

BUST  OF  TITUS    . . 

PERGAMOS    . 

SAEDIS 

SITE  OF  CAPERNAUM    . 

JACOB'S  WELL     . 

TIBERIAS     . 

POOL  OF  SILOAM 

BUST  OF  VESPASIAN     . 

SMYRNA  ....     384 


CONTENTS. 


PAGK 

INTRODUCTION xvii 

CHAPTEE  I. 

THE   PLACE   IN   HISTORY,   AND    CHARACTER  OF  THE   PERIOD,   IN   WHICH  THE 
APOSTLE   JOHN  APPEARED. 

Life  of  St.  John  coeval  with  the  first  century.— Date  of  Christ's  birth.— 
Julius  Caesar. — Pompey  the  Great. — His  march  into  Judasa. — The  Holy 
Land  becomes  tributary. — He  profanes  the  Holy  of  Holies. — Enters  Eome 
in  triumph. — Julius  Cassar  supreme. — He  appoints  Antipater  procurator 
of  Judsea.— His  son  Herod  governor  of  Galilee.— Julius  Csesar  assassin- 
ated.—Herod  appointed  king  of  Judsea.— Augustus  Caesar  becomes 
emperor. — Extent  of  Roman  empire. — Universal  peace. — Birth  of  JESUS 
CHRIST.— Death  of  Herod  the  Great.— Archelaus  and  Antipas.— Archelaus 
deposed. — Quirinius  governor  of  Syria. — Successive  procurators  of  Judaea, 
—Death  of  Augustus.— Tiberius  Caasar.— Caiaphas.— Pontius  Pilate.— 
Heathen  world.— Pagan  literature.— Alexandrian  Library  destroyed.— 
Character  of  the  period  shown  by  the  condition  of  the  Jewish  people. — 
Development  of  tha  prophecies  of  Messiah. — The  law  a  schoolmaster. — 
Ceremonial  law.— Light  dawning  when  St.  John  came  on  the  stage  .  1 


CHAPTEE  II. 

PARENTAGE,  EARLY  LIFE,  AND  NATURAL  TRAITS  OF  THE  APOSTLE. 

Position  and  physical  features  of  the  Holy  Land. — Euins. — Sacred  as- 
sociations.— St.  John  a  native  of  Galilee. — Bethsaida. — Childish  pastimes. 
— Sea  of  Galilee. — Zebedaaus. — His  early  death. — Jewish  education. — Pro- 
fane and  sacred  literature. — Schools  in  the  post-exile  period. — Education 
of  apostles. — Mode  of  instruction. — John  at  school. — Outward  life  of  the 
boy. — Judas  the.  Gaulonite. — Samaritans. — Pilgrimages.  —  Jerusalem.  — 
Saul  of  Tarsus  a  coeval  of  St.  John. — The  Passover.— St.  John  youngest  of 
the  Twelve. — Was  he  ever  married  ? — Meaning  of  "  Boanerges." — Strong 
elements  in  his  character.— Compared  with  Augustine  and  Luther. — His 
intellectual  character  .  ....  14 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  III. 

ST.  JOHN  IN  HIS  EAELIEST  STAGE  OF  PREPARATION  FOR  THE  APOSTLESHIP,  AS 
A  DISCIPLE  OF  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST. 

Preparation  for  the  Advent.— Prophet  of  the  preparation.— His  important 
influence  on  St.  John  the  Evangelist.— Birth  of  John  the  Baptist.— Predic- 
tions concerning  him. — His  prototype. — Miracles  at  his  birth. — His  holi- 
ness.—His  life  in  the  wilderness.— St.  John  his  disciple.— Matter  of  his 
preaching. — Manner. — Impression  on  his  young  Galilean  disciples. — Jesus 
pointed  out  to  them  as  the  Lamb  of  God. — John  and  Andrew  follow 
Jesus  .  .  32 


CHAPTER  IV. 

ST.  JOHN  UNDER  THE  TRAINING  OF  THE  GREAT  MASTER  HIMSELF  FROM  THE 
BEGINNING  OF  HlS  PUBLIC  MINISTRY. 

His  first  meeting  with  Jesus. — Returns  to  Galilee  with  Jesus. — Call  to 
the  discipleship.— Kana   el-Jelil.— His    faith  strengthened.— Capernaum. 
— With  his  Master  joins  caravan  to   Jerusalem. — Route. — Transjordanic 
country. — Sacred  reminiscences. — Jerusalem  and  the  temple. — Nicodemus. 
— St.  John  probably  present  at  the  interview. — Rural  parts  of  Judaea. — St. 
John    engages  in    his  first   public  work. — Unwritten  history. — Central 
Palestine. — Jesus  among  the  Samaritans. — Wonderful  result. — Impression 
on  St.  John. — Nazareth. — Miracles. — St.  John  forsakes  all  for  Christ. — 
His  first  circuit  in  Galilee  with  Jesus.— Call  of  St.  Matthew.— Daughter  of 
Jairus  and  widow's  son  raised  from  the  dead. —  St.  John's  training  and  pre- 
paration for  his  work. — Again  at  Jerusalem. — Apostles  appointed. — Their 
names. — Their  gifts. — Sermon  on  the  Mount  an  inaugurative  discourse. — 
Another  circuit  in  Galilee.— Christ  begins  to  teach  by  parables.— The 
Twelve  sent  forth  by  two  and  two. — Who  was  St.  John's  associate  ? — Jesus 
walks  on  the  sea. — Days  of  darkness  drawing  near. — Last  year  of  St.  John 
with  Christ. — Visit  to  the  Gentile  world. — Jesus  foretells  His  death. — 
Transfiguration. — Its  design. — Its  effect  on  St.  John.— Faults  of  St.  John. 
— His  jealousy  and  bigotry. — Anger. — Resurrection  of  Lazarus. — Persea. — 
Parables  at  this  time.— Ambition  of  St.  John.— End  of  pupilage  drawing 
near.— Last  public  discourses  and  parables  of  Jesus.— Impressions  on  St. 
John.— St.  John  sent  with  St.  Peter  to  prepare  the  feast  of  the  passover    44 


CHAPTER  V. 

PREPARATION  FOR  ms  WORK  FROM  INTERCOURSE  AND  INSTRUCTION  IN  PRI- 
VATE;  ESPECIALLY  FROM  THE   GREAT  SACRIFICE  OFFERED  BY  JESUS,  AS 
WITNESSED  BY  THE  APOSTLE  HIMSELF. 

Jesus  and  His  disciples  celebrating  the  passover.  —  Strife. — Expostu- 
lation   and   washing  disciples'  feet. — Treachery  of  Judas  foretold. — St. 


CONTENTS.  XI 

Peter's  denial  foretold. — Institution  of  the  Supper. — Valedictory  address. 
—  Intercessory  prayer.  —  Garden  of  Gethsemane.  —  The  agony.  —  St. 
John  present. — St.  Peter  and  his  sword. — Flight  of  the  disciples. — St. 
John  regains  his  natural  bravery. — St.  John  alone  accompanies  Christ  to 
the  palace  of  the  high-priest. — Palace  described. — St.  Peter  admitted  at 
the  request  of  St.  John. — Jesus  led  before  Pilate. — Charged  with  sedition 
and  exonerated  by  Pilate. — Before  Herod. — Mocked. — Herod  and  Pilate 
made  friends. — Again  before  Pilate. — Pilate's  wife. — St.  John  at  the  side 
of  Christ. — Bearing  the  cross. — Simon  the  Cyrenian. — The  penitent  thief. 
What  St.  John  was  taught. — St.  John  and  the  mother  of  Jesus. — The 
blood  and  the  water  seen  by  St.  John 86 


CHAPTEE  VI. 

CROWNING  PROOF  OF  THE  MESSIAHSHIP  OF  JESUS,  AS  WITNESSED  BY 
ST.  JOHN. 

Chief  functions  of  an  apostle. — Evidence  of  resurrection  of  Christ  as 
addressed  to  St.  John. — St.  John's  testimony  on  this  subject.— Mary  Mag- 
dalene's message  to  St.  Peter  and  St.  John.— Christ's  first  appearance. — 
St.  John  sees  the  empty  sepulchre  and  believes. — Christ  appears  to  Mary 
Magdalene. — To  St.  Peter. — The  two  disciples  going  to  Emmaus. — The  ten 
apostles  in  the  evening. — To  the  eleven  eight  days  after. — To  St.  John  and 
six  other  apostles  at  the  Sea  of  Galilee. — To  five  hundred  disciples  on  a 
mountain  in  Galilee. — The  ascension.— Competency  of  apostles  as  wit- 
nesses.— St.  John  neither  an  enthusiast  nor  an  impostor  .  .  .  Ill 


CHAPTEE  VII. 

HISTORY  OF  ST.  JOHN  IN  THE  ACTS  OF  THE  APOSTLES. 

Eeturns  to  Jerusalem  to  await  the  promise  of  the  Spirit.- — Galilee  no 
longer  his  home. — Apostles  assembled  in  the  upper  room. — St.  John  and 
the  mother  of  Jesus. — Mary  disappears  from  history. — Matthias  elected 
an  apostle. — Day  of  Pentecost. — Apostles  in  one  of  the  stoas  of  the  temple. 
— Tongues  of  flame. — Three  thousand  converted. — St.  John  engaged  in 
this  work. — Its  effect  on  him. — Miracle  at  the  gate  Beautiful  of  the  temple. 
—  His  first  imprisonment. — Arraigned  before  the  high-priest. —  Second 
time  imprisoned. — The  work  advancing. — The  mission  of  St.  John  and  St. 
Peter  to  Samaria. — Tiberius.— Caligula.— Agrippa  I.— Publius  Petronius. 
— Claudius. — Martyrdom  of  St.  James,  his  brother. — Antioch. — The  Jewish 
party.— Council  at  Jerusalem.— St.  John  "  a  pillar  "  of  the  Church  .  122 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

LATER  HISTORY  FROM  TRADITIONARY  SOURCES,  TILL  HIS  ARRIVAL  AT  EPHESUS 

AND   BANISHMENT   TO  PATMOS. 

Authentic  traditions  concerning  Sfc.  John. — Parthian  empire  and  the 
Euphrates. — Glorious  clime. — Scenery  of  the  Apocalypse  and  of  the  books 
of  Daniel  and  Ezekiel. — Jerusalem's  tribulation  approaching. — Agrippa  II. 
— The  Roman  governors. — Nero. — Fires  Rome. — Accuses  and  persecutes 
Christians. — Gessius  Florus. — Vespasian  invades  Judaea. — Titus. — St.  John 
sees  the  "  signs  "  foretold  by  Christ.— Sails  for  Asia  Minor.— Supposed 
reflections.  —  The  voyage.  —  The  Mediterranean. —  Cyprus. —  Rhodes. — 
Cnidus. — Patmos. — Miletus. — Harbour  of  Ephesus. — Temple  of  Ephesus. — 
Recent  discovery  of  its  ruins. — Neronian  persecution  reaches  the  apostle 
— Banished  to  Patmos  .  137 


CHAPTER  IX. 

ST.  JOHN  WRITES  THE  APOCALYPSE.    ITS  DATE  AND  DESIGN. 

Date  from  internal  evidence. — From  peculiar  idiom.  —  Only  seven 
churches  as  yet  in  Asia. — Judaizing  heretics  active. — Jews  still  occupying 
their  land. — Jerusalem  not  destroyed. — Sixth  Roman  emperor  still  on 
the  throne.— No  internal  evidence  favouring  later  date. — Value  of  external 
evidence. — Design  of  the  Apocalypse. — Theme,  coming  of  Christ. — His 
coming  partly  visible,  partly  invisible. — Book  with  seven  seals  symbolical 
of  whole  prophecy. — End  of  Jewish  and  pagan  persecuting  powers. — Over- 
throw of  later  opposing  powers. — Millennial  and  heavenly  glory.  .  151 


CHAPTER  X. 
ANALYSIS  OF  THE  APOCALYPSE,  WITH  BRIEF  EXPLANATORY  NOTES. 

I.  By  whom  and  to  whom  the  Revelation  was  made. — The  title. — The 
dedication. — The  Revealer  speaks.  II.  Epistles  to  the  Seven  Churches. — To 
Ephesus. —  Smyrna.  —  Pergamos.  —  Thyatira.  —  Sardis.  —  Philadelphia. — 
Laodicea.  III.  Sublime  visions,  introductory. — Throne  in  heaven. — Lamb 
in  the  midst  of  the  throne. — Honour  paid  to  the  Lamb.  IV.  Overthrow  of 
the  Jewish  persecuting  power. — First  five  seals,  signs  of  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem. — The  sixth  seal. — Seventh  seal. — Seven  angels  prepare  to 
sound.— First  four  trumpets.— First  trumpet,  appearance  of  the  pagan 
power  of  Rome. — Second  trumpet,  the  destruction  of  nations  or  their  ab- 
sorption into  that  of  Rome. — Third  trumpet,  Julius  Csssar  founder  of  the 


CONTENTS.  Xlll 

empire. —  Fourth  trumpet,  empire  established  under  Augustus. — Fifth 
trumpet,  first  woe,  or  Nero  and  the  ravages  of  the  Jewish  war. — Sixth 
trumpet,  second  woe,  or  siege  and  destruction  of  Jerusalem  under  Titus. 
Y.  Overthrow  of  the  pagan  persecuting  power. — Seventh  trumpet  begins 
to  sound. — Compendium  of  the  little  book. — Pagan  Kome  persecuting  the 
Church. — Spiritual  agents  in  the  conflict,  and  anticipated  victory. — Perse- 
cution continued. — Imperial  magistracy  of  Eome  the  visible  agents.  VI. 
Corruptions,  temporal  power,  etc.,  of  the  nominally  Christian  Church. — 
Symbol,  dominion,  and  name  of  new  persecuting  power. — Gloomy  picture 
relieved  by  a  vision. — Judgment  on  the  papacy. — Seven  vials,  or  plagues. 
—-First  vial,  priestcraft  and  degeneracy  of  the  clergy. — Second  and  third, 
Mohammedan  power  in  the  7th,  and  Ottoman  in  the  13th  century.— Fourth 
vial,  the  Inquisition. — Fifth,  Eeformation. — Sixth,  French  Eevolution. — 
Seventh  vial,  symbols  of  destruction. — Seventh  vial  continued,  woman  on 
a  scarlet  coloured  beast. — Fall  of  spiritual  Babylon. — Lamentations  over 
her  fall. — Bejoicing  in  heaven. — Final  conflict  and  victory.  VII.  The 
millennium. — Final  destruction  of  Satan's  power. — Resurrection  and  last 
judgment. — Prelude  to  description  of  New  Jerusalem. — The  city  described. 
Its  more  spiritual  elements. — The  epilogue 178 


CHAPTER  XI. 

TRADITIONARY  HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTLE  CONTINUED. 

Length  of  his  imprisonment  in  Patmos. — Siege  and  fall  of  Jerusalem. — 
Effect  of  tidings  on  St.  John. — Sole  survivor  of  the  apostles. — Changes 
that  had  come  over  him. — Accession  of  Titus  to  the  empire. — Character  of 
this  emperor. — "Was  St.  John  acquainted  with  great  writers  of  Greece  and 
Rome  P — Epictetus,  Seneca,  and  Pliny. — St.  Paul's  labours  in  Asia  Minor. 
—The  Jews  of  Asia  Minor. — Heathen  philosophy. — St.  John's  special 
fitness  for  this  scene  of  labour. — Early  adulteration  of  Christianity. — 
Seven  churches  visited.  —  Smyrna.  —  Pergamos.  —  Thyatira.  —  Sardis.  — 
Philadelphia.— Laodicea.— Ephesus.— Anecdote  of  St.  John's  pursuit  of  a 
young  robber.— The  Ebionites.— Docetse.— Cerinthus.— Co-labourers  .  257 


CHAPTER  XII. 
ST.  JOHN  WRITES  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL.    DATE,  DESIGN,  AND  CONTENTS. 

Unanimous  testimony  of  antiquity  that  it  was  written  at  Ephesus,  A.D. 
85  or  86. — Purity  of  the  Greek. — Written  at  a  distance  from  Judaea. — 
Author  writes  as  one  who  had  ceased  to  be  a  Jew  and  become  cosmopolitan. 
— Compared  with  synoptists,  writes  more  in  historical  vein. —  Adopts 
Roman  horology  throughout. — His  authorship  of  Fourth  Gospel  never 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

seriously  questioned  until  recently. — Strauss  denied  its  genuineness. — 
Tubingen  School,  etc.— Johannean  authorship  as  stated  by  Canon  Liddon. 
— This  Gospel  not  a  mere  supplement  to  the  others. — Its  design  traced  in 
the  parables  and  miracles  which  he  admits. — St.  John's  personal  knowledge 
of  all  the  miracles  he  names. — Principle  of  selection  he  adopts. — His 
design  clearly  stated  by  himself. — He  wrote  to  prove  Jesus  was  the  Christ, 
the  Son  of  God. — Contents  of  the  Gospel. — St.  John  presents  the  fullest 
and  deepest  picture  of  His  love. — His  object  not  polemical. — Quarterly 
Review  quoted.— Tholuck 268 


XIII. 

ANALYSIS  OF  THE  GOSPEL,  WITH  BRIEF  EXPLANATORY  NOTES. 

I.  Signs  to  the  unbelieving  World  that  Jesus  was  the  appointed  Saviour. — 
Prologue. — Testimony  of  John  the  Baptist  to  His  pre-existence. — His 
testimony  to  His  own  followers. — Power  of  Jesus'  will  over  nature. — His 
control  over  the  wills  of  men. — The  conviction  of  Nicodemus. — Final  and 
complete  testimony  of  John  the  Baptist. — His  Messiahship  acknowledged 
by  the  Samaritans.— A  courtier  of  Herod  Antipas  convinced. — His  miracles 
in  contrast  with  false  miracles.-^The  dignity  of  His  character  and  Divinity 
of  His  person  asserted  by  Himself. — God's  testimony  to  Jesus  in  the 
miracles  He  wrought  and  the  prophecies  fulfilled  in  Him. — Great  masses 
convinced. — His  character  as  a  proof. — His  Divine  Sonship  proclaimed  by  a 
voice  from  heaven,  etc.,  etc.  II.  Evidence  derived  from  His  intercourse  and 
discourses  in  private  with  His  disciples,  and  especially  as  seen  in  His  great 
sacrifice  for  sin. — His  continued  presence  in  the  mission  of  the  Holy  Com- 
forter.— His  prayer  for  His  followers. — His  Divinity  seen  in  the  garden  of 
agony, — In  His  trial  before  Pilate. — In  the  manner  of  His  death. — In  the 
Divine  interposition  in  His  burial. — In  His  resurrection,  etc.  .  .278 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

LAST  DAYS  AND   CONCLUDING  WRITINGS  OF  THE   APOSTLE. 

St.  John  far  advanced  in  years.— ^The  Epistles  written  later  than  the 
Gospel.— Brevity  of  the  Second  and  Third  indicates  infirmities  of  age. — 
Sublime  thought  at  foundation  of  First  Epistle.  FELLOWSHIP. — Five  great 
topics.— Second  and  Third  Epistles  addressed  to  individuals.— Exhibit 
remarkable  simplicity. — Second  addressed  to  a  Christian  woman,  Kuria 
by  name,  and  her  children.— Third  addressed  to  Gaius. — It  admirably 
sketches  three  distinct  portraits. — Yery  aged,  probably  past  ninety. — 
These  writings  breathe  spirit  of  heaven. — Becoming  too  weak  to  walk 
into  the  assembly,  he  is  borne  thither.  —  Lived  to  beginning  of 


CONTENTS,  XV 

second  century.— Not  less  than  one  hundred  at  death.— Buried  probably 
among  sepulchres  of  Mount  Prion. — Tradition  that  he  did  not  die. — Perse- 
cution under  Domitian. — Nerva.— Trajan. — Traditions.-— Some  apocryphal, 
some  genuine. — Boiling  oil. — Legends  of  the  shipwreck,  partridge,  etc. — 
Cerinthus  at  the  bath. — Legendary  interpretation  of  John  xxi.  22. — 
Longfellow  on  the  legend.— Professor  Plumptre  quoted  .  .  .  380 


CHAPTEK  XV. 

ANALYSES  OF  THE  EPISTLES,  WITH  BRIEF  EXPLANATORY  NOTES. 

First  Epistle.— FELLOWSHIP  in  its  twofold  aspect :  Union  with  God  and 
with  one  another.^(l)  Fellowship,  its  nature.— ^(2)  Its  fruit,  holiness. — (3) 
Its  law,  truth.— (4)  Its  life,  love.--(5')  Its  root,  faith.— Second  Epistle. — 
Letter  to  a  mother  in  Israel  and  her  children. — Pleasing  information 
respecting  her  absent  children. — Warns  them  against  fellowship  with 
errorists.— Third  Epistle. — Three  portraits.  —  Gaius,  Diotrephes,  and 
Demetrius  ,  390 


INDEX  OF  STIBJECTS        .        .        .        » 415 

INDEX  OF  SCRIPTURE  REFERENCES 429 

LIST  OF  AUTHORS  AND  WORKS  REFERRED  TO  434 


INTRODUCTION 

BY  THE  EDITOR. 


AN  affecting  interest  is  given  to  this  treatise  on  the  life,  character, 
and  writings  of  St.  John,  in  consequence  of  the  death  of  its 
author  while  these  sheets  were  passing  through  the  press.  I  am 
not  able  to  reckon  Dr.  Macdonald  among  my  own  personal  Ameri- 
can friends.  I  never  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  him  on  either 
side  of  the  Atlantic  :  but  a  slight  biographical  notice,  which  has 
been  placed  in  my  hands,  enables  me  to  furnish  the  following 
particulars.1 

Descended  from  a  family  in  the  north  of  Ireland,  and,  more 
remotely,  drawing  his  origin  from  the  west  of  Scotland  (these 
two  parts  of  our  coast  have  been  associated  together  by  many 
romantic  and  historical  incidents,  and  the  name  "  Macdonald  " 
has  a  well  known  place  in  such  recollections),  and  himself  born 
and  bred  in  the  midst  of  the  Puritanism  of  New  England,  the 
writer  of  this  book  united  in  his  character  two  elements  of 
strength,  which  showed  themselves,  throughout  his  career,  in  a 
vigorous  and  resolute  habit  of  mind.  His  father,  a  man  of  mark 
both  as  an  enterprising  merchant  and  as  a  general  in  command  of 
troops  during  the  war  of  1812,  on  his  deathbed  dedicated  this 
son,  then  a  boy  of  only  fourteen,  to  the  Ministry  of  the  Gospel. 
The  youth  "  appears  never  to  have  lost  sight  of  this  dying  charge, 
and  very  soon  set  himself  in  earnest  to  fulfil  it " ;  and  his  charac- 
ter was  from  the  first  and  throughout  in  harmony  with  the  call- 
ing thus  accepted.  By  a  companion  of  his  early  manhood  he  is 

1  Memorial  of  James  Madison  Macdonald,  D.D. :  a  Discourse  delivered  in  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Princeton,  New  Jersey,  by  Lyman  A.  Atwater.  1876. 

Ad 


XV111  INTRODUCTION. 

described  as  robust  in  frame,  with  an  honest  face,  a  fresh  com- 
plexion, and  a  bright  eye,  as  devout  and  conscientious,  genial 
in  society,  firm  in  his  friendships  and  diligent  in  study.  After 
exercising  his  ministry  first  in  Connecticut,  then  in  Long  Island, 
then  in  Brooklyn,  he  made  his  home  in  Princeton,  New  Jersey ; 
and  there  his  mature  work  was  done  with  zeal  and  perseverance 
for  many  years.1  There  too  he  became  Vice  President,  and  (for 
the  most  part  Acting  President)  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the 
Theological  Seminary,  though  himself  a  graduate  of  the  Theo- 
logical Seminary  of  Yale.  Thus,  in  different  parts  of  his  life,  he 
was  closely  connected  with  two  of  the  most  famous  Divinity 
Schools  of  the  New  World,  each  of  which  has  exercised  a  wide 
and  beneficial  influence  on  Keligion  in  the  United  States.  Dr. 
Macdonald's  position  at  Princeton  was  peculiarly  responsible  and 
difficult,  his  congregation  containing  men  of  the  highest  culture 
in  Science,  Philosophy,  and  Theology.  It  is  justly  remarked  in  the 
pamphlet  which  I  am  now  consulting,  that  "  no  pastor  retains  his 
unabated  hold  of  any  congregation  for  a  score  of  years  without 
some  very  sterling  qualities,  much  less  such  a  charge  as  this." 
But  Dr.  Macdonald  had  this  success,  and  he  was  never  more 
honoured  and  trusted  than  at  the  last.  The  most  conspicuous 
feature  of  his  character  appears  to  have  been  an  unswerving  love 
of  truth,  with  an  earnest  and  zealous  desire  to  propagate  the  truth. 
As  a  preacher  he  had  great  advantages  in  a  voice  of  singular 
compass  and  distinctness,  and  in  his  power  of  lively  description. 
Notwithstanding  his  tenacity  of  purpose,  he  was  remarkably  can- 
did in  his  dealing  with  new  expressions  of  opinion;  he  was  always 
a  most  diligent  student;  his  habit  was  to  make  careful  and 
assiduous  preparation  for  his  work ;  and  he  had  that  strong  com- 
mon sense,  and  that  power  of  subordinating  the  unimportant  to 
the  important,  which  almost  always  give  to  the  possessor  of  these 
faculties  a  command  over  the  minds  of  others.  With  all  this 
there  was  a  tenderness  and  a  gentle  sympathy  in  his  nature  which 
1  This  period  began  in  1853  and  ended  in  1876. 


INTRODUCTION.  XIX 

bound  him  closely  to  those  who  were  in  suffering  and  sorrow. 
"  We  never  truly  knew  what  Dr.  Macdonald  was/'  it  was  said, 
"till  he  came  to  us  when  death  invaded  and  darkened  our  house- 
holds." The  end  of  his  own  life  came  very  suddenly ;  but  in  this 
circumstance,  notwithstanding  the  distress  which  it  caused,  there 
was  this  advantage,  that  the  impression  of  his  full  usefulness  and 
the  fresh  power  of  his  example  were  unimpaired.  These  partic- 
ulars are  put  together  from  a  short  memoir,  which  is  evidently 
not  written  in  the  language  of  blind  eulogy ;  and  it  is  pleasant 
thus  to  be  able  to  combine  a  slight  sketch  of  the  author  with  the 
publication  of  the  book  which  is  here  edited.1 

Both  the  plan  and  the  execution  of  this  book  will,  if  I  am  not 
mistaken,  recommend  themselves  to  the  English-speaking  world 
as  a  really  valuable  addition  to  our  theological  and  religious 
literature.  The  plan  is  to  present  in  one  view  all  parts  of  St. 
John's  life  in  their  connection  with  one  another  and  with  his 
writings,  and  also  in  their  connection  with  the  Life  of  Christ  and 
the  founding  of  His  Church.  Of  the  execution  the  readers  must 
judge,  when  they  have  examined  the  whole  volume.  I  may  be 
allowed  here  to  make  a  few  remarks  on  the  general  subject. 

We  are  invited  in  this  volume  to  contemplate  St.  John  as  the 
personal  link  connecting  together  three  very  different  parts  of 
Holy  Scripture.  This  method  of  presenting  the  personality  of  a 
Biblical  writer  in  close  combination  with  his  writings, — so  that 
the  man  is  set  forth,  so  to  speak,  as  part  of  the  Divinely-com- 
municated Revelation  with  which  we  have  to  deal., — is  remarkably 
characteristic  of  our  times,  and  has  met  with  much  favourable 
acceptance.2  The  texture  of  the  Bible  lends  itself  with  peculiar 
facility  to  this  method.  It  may  be  worth  while  to  note  two  or 

1  Among  the  books  which  he  published  was  one  entitled  Credulity  in  its  Different 
Forms,  and  another,  for  devotional  use,  entitled  My  Father's  House.     See  below  on 
the  Apocalypse. 

2  I  am  of  course  not  in  any  way  responsible  for  the  friendly  way  in  which  my 
own  attempts  in  this  direction  are  mentioned  in  one  of  the  notes  of  this  book ;  but 
it  may  be  allowed  to  me  to  express  my  sense  of  obligation  to  the  writer  of  the  note. 


XX  INTRODUCTION. 

three  instances  before  we  tnrn  to  the  special  features  which  mark 
the  case  of  St.  John,  when  regarded  in  tjiis  point  of  view. 

There  are  some  cases  of  this  kind  in  the  Old  Testament.  One 
is  pre-eminent.  We  have  there  the  life  of  David  in  the  Historical 
Books,  and  the  poems  of  David  in  the  Psalter ;  and  in  proportion 
as  we  can  connect  the  two  together  (and  to  a  considerable  extent 
we  certainly  can)  we  gain  very  much  in  our  appreciation  of  the 
value  of  both.  If  the  man  stands  out,  as  it  were,  from  the 
Psalms,  we  read  those  Psalms  with  a  stronger  sense  of  their 
reality ;  and  when  we  study  the  story  of  David's  life  we  study  it 
with  a  new  interest,  if  we  remember  that  it  is  he,  under  God, 
who  instructs  us,  for  the  conduct  of  our  life  and  devotion,  in 
poems  familiar  as  household  words. 

It  is  however  in  the  New  Testament  that  we  have  the  best  and 
the  most  frequent  instances  of  this  connecting  together  •  of  dif- 
ferent books  by  a  living  personality.  One  such  instance  is  St. 
Luke.  We  can  trace  his  presence  and  his  movements  in  the  inci- 
dents recorded  in  that  narrative  of  the  Acts,  which  he  wrote  with- 
out a  dream  of  attracting  any  attention  to  himself.  But  he  is  the 
writer  too  of  one  of  the  Gospels.  He  is  an  Evangelist  as  well  as 
a  biographer  of  the  Apostles.  May  we  not  say  that  he  is  a  Psalmist 
also  ?  for  to  him  we  owe  that  Angels'  Song  which  makes  our 
Christmas  morning  bright,  as  well  as  those  three  familiar  Hymns 
of  the  Nativity,  which  are  embodied  in  the  Services  of  the  Church 
of  England.  Another  example  is  St.  Peter.  Not  an  Evangelist,  and 
not  a  historian  of  the  early  events  of  the  Church,  he  yet  binds 
together  the  Gospels  and  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  by  the  con- 
tinuous thread  of  his  own  animated  and  vigorous  life,  while  in  his 
two  Epistles  the  same  disciple  and  apostle,  of  whose  doings  and 
words  we  have  read  with  so  much  interest,  stands  forth  to  address 
us  directly.  The  great  instance  of  this  personal  and  most  eloquent 
connection  between  different  books  of  the  Sacred  Yolume  is,  of 
course,  St.  Paul ;  for  his  letters  are  so  numerous  that  they  consti- 
tute a  very  large  portion  of  the  New  Testament,  while  he  is  also 


INTRODUCTION.  XXI 

the  great  figure  in  the  Apostolic  History,  and  becomes  more  and 
more  commanding  as  we  approach  the  end  of  that  narrative ;  while 
the  letters  and  the  narrative  are  so  bound  together  by  coincidences 
of  time  and  place,  in  small  things  as  well  as  great,  that  these  co- 
incidences have  formed  the  whole  subject  of  a  treatise  famous  in 
Theology.1 

Perhaps  we  shall  best  appreciate  the  distinctive  characteristics 
of  St.  John,  viewed  under  this  aspect,  if  we  contrast  him  with 
St.  Luke,  St.  Peter,  and  St.  Paul.  Like  the  first  of  these,  he  is 
an  Evangelist,  and  also  has  a  very  definite  connection  with  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles  :  but  "  the  beloved  physician  "  wrote  no  Epis- 
tles destined  to  be  a  part  of  Holy  Scripture  :  no  "  Acts  "  of  his 
own  are  recorded  by  the  pen  which  has  so  diligently  recorded  the 
sayings  and  doings  of  others  :  and,  so  far  as  we  know,  he  never  saw 
the  coimtenance  or  heard  the  voice  of  the  Incarnate  Son  of  God. 
In  certain  of  these  respects  St.  Peter  held  common  ground  with 
St.  John ;  he  shared  with  him  the  blessed  and  ever-fruitful  expe- 
rience of  the  Gospel  time;  he  is  even  more  conspicuous  on  the 
ground  of  the  apostolic  history.  He  also  wrote  inspired  letters  ; 
but  he  did  not  write  a  Gospel ;  his  two  Epistles  are  not  marked  by 
that  variety  of  character  which  we  find  in  the  three  by  St.  John  • 
and  to  his  early  friend  of  the  Galilean  lake,  not  to  himself,  was 
vouchsafed  the  Apocalypse.  In  the  two  facts  that  St.  John's 
writings  are  of  three  very  different  kinds,  and  that  he  was  per- 
sonally associated  with  our  Saviour  upon  earth,  we  see  at  once 
that  he  rises  to  a  level  higher  than  that  which  is  occupied  even 
by  St.  Paul.  The  "beloved  disciple"  and  the  " apostle  of  the 
Gentiles  "  have  indeed  these  things  in  common,  that  we  can  con- 
nect their  early  training  and  early  history  with  their  subsequent 
career  and  with  their  writings,  and  that  each  has  a  place  in 
St.  Luke's  narrative,  while  the  latter  has  there  by  far  the  greater 
place.  In  other  respects  the  former  has  pre-eminent  claims  on 
our  attention  and  reverence.  To  this  we  must  add  that  the  ground 
1  The  Hone  Paulines  need  hardly  be  named. 


XX11  .  INTRODUCTION. 

occupied  by  Peter  and  Paul  is  chiefly  Biblical,  whereas  the  pro- 
tracted life  of  John,  covering  the  whole  of  the  later  as  well  as  the 
earlier  part  of  the  first  century,  enters  into  the  range  of  what  we 
popularly  term  Ecclesiastical  History. 

Passing  now  from  the  general  plan  of  the  book,  to  which  these 
pages  are  meant  to  serve  as  an  Introduction,  we  may  take  a  sepa- 
rate glance  first  at  the  life,  and  then  at  the  writings,  of  St.  John. 

As  regards  his  life,  if  the  writing  of  these  pages  aimed  at  any- 
thing like  completeness,  it  would  be  necessary  to  say  something 
of  those  two  facts,  which  together  give  us  our  correct  starting 
point,  and  a  starting  point  full  of  meaning ;  viz.,  that  St.  John 
was  a  Galilean,  and  that  he  was  a  fisherman.  But  I  turn  at  once 
to  two  influences  which  had  much  to  do  with  the  moulding  of  his 
character  and  the  direction  of  his  life. 

The  first  of  these  influences  is  that  which  was  connected  with 
his   mother.     It  is  probable  that  we  might  with  perfect  safety 
write  more  confidently  and -more  fully  on  this  subject  than  is  done 
by  Dr.  Macdonald.1     Whether  on  the  ground  of  hereditary  trans- 
mission, or  through  the  powerful  influence  of  example,  it  seems 
evident  that  we  must  trace  something  of  the  mother  in  the  son. 
In  the  first  place,  Salome  is  made  conspicuous  in  the  Gospel  His- 
tory ;  and  there  must  be  a  reason  for  this,  and  a  reason  connected 
with  our  instruction.     We  might  also  perhaps  justly  lay  some 
stress  on  this,  that  Salome   somewhat  throws  Zebedee  into  the 
shade.     The  eagerness  and  patience  with  which  she  devoted  her- 
self to   Christ,  ministering  to  Him  of  her  substance,  following 
Him  in  His  journeys,  staying  in  Jerusalem  when  He  was  there, 
and  even  after  His  crucifixion  continuing  her  service,  reveal  to  us 
a  warm  and  energetic  disposition,  with  a  readiness  to  believe  that 
the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah  was  come.     That  interview  with 
Christ,  when  she  asked  on  behalf  of  her  two  sons,  that  they  might 
sit,  the  one  on  the  Lord's  right  hand  and  the  other  on  His  left, 
manifests  a  strong  and  enthusiastic  character  in  the  mother,  and 
1  See  Godet,  Commentaire  sur  V  Evangile  de  Saint  Jean,  vol.  i.,  p.  59. 


INTRODUCTION.  XX111 

the  fact  of  a  warm  and  close  union  of  feeling  between  herself  and 
them.  We  easily  see  that  this  request,  viewed  on  one  side,  was 
foolish  and  ambitious.  But  we  must  not  forget  that  the  request 
had  its  good  side  also.  At  least  it  shows  that  this  impetuous 
mother  had  faith  to  perceive  that  Jesus  Christ  was  something 
more  than  He  seemed ;  and  she  was  willing  and  eager  that  her  sons 
should  cast  in  their  lot  with  Him,  however  much  for  the  present 
He  might  be  "  despised  and  rejected  of  men."  And  with  this 
incident  we  must  connect  that  other  occasion,  when  the  Lord  gave 
to  James  and  John  the  title  of  "  Boanerges."  This  cannot  have 
been  a  term  of  reproach;  but,  while  conveying  an  admonition 
and  a  caution,  must  like  Peter's  name  have  been  intended  to  indi- 
cate some  high  qualities.  And  it  cannot  well  be  doubted  that 
there  was  by  nature  a  fiery  force  and  enthusiasm  in  John  the 
Evangelist,  inherited  perhaps  from  his  mother,  and  intensified  by 
the  grand  example  of  John  the  Baptist,  which  had  a  high  value, 
if  only  it  might  be  trained  and  brought  under  a  loving  discipline. 

The  second  influence  to  which  we  must  now  pass  is  that  which 
was  exerted  on  this  Evangelist  by  St.  John  the  Baptist.  This  is 
made  very  prominent  in  the  fourth  Gospel,  as  anyone  may  see  very 
distinctly,  on  comparing  it  for  this  purpose  with  the  other  three. 
It  is  not  precisely  that  the  Baptist  himself  is  made  more  conspi- 
cuous there  than  in  the  other  narratives.  It  would  hardly  be  cor- 
rect to  state  the  matter  thus.  It  is  rather  that  our  Evangelist  is 
distinctly  set  before  us  as  the  disciple  of  the  Baptist,  in  pre- 
paration for  a  higher  discipleship,  and  that  precisely  through  this 
relationship  to  the  Forerunner  the  allegiance  to  Christ  began. 
The  author  of  this  book  follows  a  true  instinct  in  devoting  a 
whole  chapter  to  this  subject,  Chapter  III. 

One  circumstance  which  tends  to  give  us  a  distinctive  know- 
ledge of  St.  John,  and  a  knowledge  very  serious  and  affecting,  is 
his  friendship  with  St.  Peter.  This  friendship  too  was  a  very 
early  one ;  and  early  friendships  have  often  a  tenderness  and  a 
power  that  belong  to  no  other.  Moreover  it  comes  before  us 


XXIV  INTRODUCTION. 

with  the  characteristics  of  a  definite  local  colouring;  and   this 
enhances  to  us  the  interest  with  which  we  think  of  these  two 
disciples   together.      As  boys  and  young  men  they  were  com- 
panions on  the  shore  and  on  the  waves  of  the   Sea  of  Galilee. 
There  they  gathered  pebbles  and  shells;  and  there  they  exercised 
their  craft  in  companionship,  mending  and  casting  their   nets. 
Each  of  these  two  men  had  a  brother ;  but  we  have  a  conscious- 
ness that  cannot  be  mistaken,  that  Peter  was  more  to  John,  and 
John  to  Peter,  than  James  was  to  the  former,  or  Andrew  to  the 
latter.     This  is  true  to  nature,  and  true  to  the  experience  of  life. 
These  two  men  had  strongly  contrasted  characters,  and  yet  not  so 
strongly  contrasted  but  that  there  was  common  ground  between 
them,  and  an  easy  bond  of  sympathy  of  each  with  the  other.    Peter 
was  impetuous ;  but  so  also  was  John,  though  the  general  bent  of 
his  mind  was  contemplative.     John  was  full  of  the  deep  emotion 
of  love  for  his  Master ;  but  so  also  was  Peter,  though  adapted  by 
natural  qualities  for  an  active  life.      The  circumstances  too,  in 
which  they  were  placed,  tended,  as  time  went  on,  to  make  this 
friendship  closer.     At  the  Transfiguration  and  in  Gethsemane,  as 
well  as  on  another  occasion,  they  (with  one  associate  who  died 
young1)  were   the   chosen  companions  of  their   Lord.      During 
the  fearful  hours  which  preceded  the  Crucifixion, — moments  which 
neither  of  them  could  ever  forget, — we  see  them  both,  by  the 
flickering  firelight,  in  the   high-priest's   house.      The   incidents 
of   the   morning   of   the   Resurrection   associated   them   in   like 
manner,  and  even  more  closely,  and  laid  up  a  store  of  recollec- 
tions, so  that  this  event  could  never  be  thought  of  by  either 
without  the  presence  of  the  image  of  the  other ;    while  the  last 
chapter   in    St.   John's    Gospel   not   only   brings    the    two    to- 
gether, under  circumstances  most  solemn  and  touching,  on  the 
very  scene  of  their  childhood,  and  in  connection  with  the  craft  of 
their  early  manhood,2  but  shows  clearly  how  deeply  conscious  St. 
John  was  of  Peter's  affection  towards  him,  and  how  fully  he  returned 
1  See  Acts  xii.  2.  2  John  xxi.  1-14. 


INTRODUCTION.  XXV 

it.  ' '  Lord,  and  what  shall  this  man  do  ?  "  The  manner  in  which 
this  is  recorded  is  an  echo  of  the  friendship  which  inspired  the 
question.  Nor  do  the  Scripture  notices  of  this  union  of  heart 
and  life  end  here.  Still,  after  the  day  of  Pentecost,  these  two 
apostles  are  together,  pre-eminent  above  the  rest,  at  the  healing 
of  the  lame  man  by  the  Beautiful  Gate  of  the  temple  : l  together 
they  went  from  Jerusalem  to  Samaria,  to  consolidate  the  results 
of  the  first  mission  of  the  Christian  Church ; 2  and  when  finally 
we  reach  the  last  notice  of  them  in  the  Epistles,  they  disappear 
from  view  together.  St.  Paul,  in  writing  to  the  Galatians,  de- 
scribes Peter  and  John  as  "  pillars  "  standing  side  by  side  in  the 
Church  of  God.3 

If  we  compare  the  scenes  in  which  that  earlier  life  of  St.  John 
was  spent,  which  is  so  clearly  recorded  to  us  in  the  Gospel  History, 
and  those  to  which  the  dim,  though  most  interesting,  traditions 
of  his  later  life  in  Church  History  belong,  we  are  much  struck  by 
their  difference.  In  two  respects  indeed  the  contrast  is  very 
marked.  There  is  in  the  first  place  that  contrast,  which  I  have 
just  touched,  between  the  transparent  distinctness  of  what  we 
read  in  the  Bible  and  the  hazy  uncertainty  of  what  elsewhere  we 
read  regarding  this  apostle.  All  that  relates  to  the  Sea  of 
Galilee  and  Jerusalem,  in  their  relation  to  St.  John,  is  vivid  and 
bright ;  all  that  relates  to  his  connection  with  Asia  Minor,  Ephe- 
sus  and  Patmos,  is  merely  lighted  up  by  anecdotes  more  or  less 
probable.  But  the  regions  themselves  also  are  strongly  contrasted 
in  their  aspect  and  political  and  social  condition. 

A  season  of  sharp  persecution  separates  the  two  periods  of 
St.  John's  life.  It  seems  probable  that  St.  John  may  have 
quitted  Palestine  during  the  campaign  conducted  by  Vespasian 
under  the  Emperor  Nero,  and  when  that  emperor's  general 
cruelties  were  spreading  terror  through  the  world.  About  this 

1  Acts  iii.  1.  2  Acts  viii.  14. 

3  Gal.  ii.  9.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  the  James  mentioned  here  is  not 
the  brother  of  John. 


XXVI  INTRODUCTION. 

time  St.  Paul  suffered  martyrdom ;  and  it  is  most  interesting 
to  think  of  St.  John  as  entering  upon  the  region  in  which  the 
Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  had  laboured  so  much,  and  which  he 
had  so  richly  instructed  by  his  Epistles ;  landing  perhaps  at 
Miletus/  whence  the  message  went  for  the  Ephesian  elders,2  and 
taking  up  his  residence  at  Ephesus,  in  the  heart  of  the  country  of 
"the  Seven  Churches."  The  geography  of  the  district  of  "  Asia" 
connects  together,  in  a  remarkable  way,  the  widely  separated 
biographies  of  these  two  apostles. 

The  personal  interest,  however,  of  St.  John,  at  this  period  of 
his  life  and  in  this  part  of  the  Levant,  is  chiefly  concentrated  on 
Patmos,  a  barren  rocky  island  to  the  southwest  of  the  peninsula 
which  we  popularly  term  Asia  Minor.  A  large  amount  of  his- 
torical romance  has,  on  various  occasions,  been  connected  with 
islands.  It  is  only  needful  to  name  Salamis  and  Malta,  Elba  and 
St.  Helena,  to  justify  this  remark.  But  islands  have  also  been 
vividly  connected  with  what  may  truly  be  called  the  romance  of 
Ecclesiastical  History.  Two  such  places  are  on  the  west  and 
east  of  our  own  coast.  lona  retains  imperishably  the  memory  of 
Columba  and  his  great  school  of  missionaries.  Lindisfarne  is 
less  frequently  in  our  thoughts;  but  it  has  a  very  distinguished 
connection  with  the  early  spread  of  the  Gospel  through  the  south 
of  Scotland  and  the  north  of  England.  The  sunny  Mediterranean 
too,  as  well  as  our  bleak  northern  sea,  has  its  sacred  islands. 
One  group,  famous  in  Church  History,  is  that  of  the  Lerins 
Islands  off  the  south  coast  of  France.  But  none  has  so  great 
a  name  in  connection  with  such  associations  as  Patmos.  There 
St.  John,  the  "brother"  of  them  that  suffer  for  religion,  and 
their  (t  companion  in  tribulation  and  in  the  kingdom  and  patience 
of  Jesus  Christ,"  was  an  exile,  as  he  himself  tells  us,  "  for  the 
Word  of  God  and  for  the  testimony  of  Jesus  Christ."3  It  was 
the  custom  of  the  Romans  to  send  exiles  to  the  most  rocky  and 

1  See  below  in  this  book,  p.  145.  2  Acts  xx.  17. 

3  Rev.  i.  9. 


INTRODUCTION.  XXV11 

desolate  islands.  Such  a  scene  too  was  suitable,  if  we  may 
presume  to  say  so,  to  the  sublime  and  awful  revelation  which 
the  Apostle  there  received.1 

In  the  life  of  St.  John,  however,  we  cannot  forget  that  the 
main  point  is  not  his  association  with  any  one  of  his  brother 
apostles,  or  with  all  of  them,  but  his  association  with  JESUS 
CHRIST  :  just  as  we  must  remember  a  higher  interest  is  to  be  found 
in  St.  John's  relation  to  his  own  writings  than  the  living  person- 
ality which  connects  them.  The  method  indeed  of  the  book  to 
which  these  lines  are  an  Introduction  is  that  which  has  been  de- 
scribed, but  the  aim  and  scope  is  something  greater.  The  book 
does  tend  to  bring  out  this  separate  personality  into  clear 
view;  but  its  main  purpose  is,  through  St.  John,  to  increase  our 
homage  to  CHRIST;  and  through  St.  John's  writings,  taken  in  con- 
nection with  their  author,  to  throw  light  upon  the  GOSPEL.  All  this 
course  of  study  and  reflection  is  meant  to  be  made  subservient  to 
a  better  appreciation  of  the  Person  and  Doctrine  of  the  Saviour. 
Now  this  close  asociation  of  St.  John  with  his  Master  resolves 
itself  into  three  subjects :  first,  the  effect  produced  on  St.  John 
by  the  teaching  and  training  of  CHRIST;  secondly,  the  lessons 
derivable  from  the  close  friendship  between  this  disciple  and 
his  Master;  and  thirdly  (as  a  consequence  of  these  two  par- 
ticulars) the  peculiarities  of  St.  John's  mode  of  representing 
the  life  of  Christ,  and  the  advantage  which  we  gain  by  gazing 
on  that  biography,  so  to  speak,  through  the  eyes  of  this  Evan- 
gelist. 

The  fact  that  during  a  period  of  three  years   St.   John  was 
under  the  direct  tuition  of  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  and  thus 

1  I  quote  here  from  words  used  by  myself  in  an  article  on  Patmos  in  The  Dic- 
tionary of  the  Bible.  Dean  Stanley  visited  Patmos  on  the  return  from  his  second 
journey  in  Palestine  ;  and  preaching,  the  day  after,  on  John  xvi.  13,  he  said:  "  We 
have  been  on  the  very  track  of  the  Apostle  who  wrote  down  these  words  for  his 
support  and  ours.  We  have  seen  at  Patmos  and  at  Ephesus  the  last  traces  of  St. 
John,  with  whom  we  parted,  as  it  were,  on  the  shores  of  his  own  lake  of  Tiberias. 
Let  us  ask  ourselves  what  the  lessons  are  which  he  has  left  to  us." 


XXV111  INTEODUCTION. 

fitted  for  what  lie  was  afterwards  to  do  and  to  write,  is  of  para- 
mount importance.  That  this  direct  tuition  and  Divine  prepara- 
tion was  the  privilege  of  the  apostles  we  all  know,  as  a  matter  of 
course :  but  we  too  often  forget  this,  or  fail  to  mark  its  special 
significance.  We  are  apt  to  look  on  our  Lord's  life  on  earth  as 
a  time  of  working  miracles,  of  revealing  His  character,  of  giving 
utterance  to  instruction,  with  the  view  of  its  being  recorded 
afterwards  for  all  time ;  and  we  too  frequently  think  of  the 
apostles  merely  as  the  environment  of  this  wonder-working  and 
this  blessed  revelation  of  the  Saviour's  mind.  His  life  on 
earth  was  indeed  all  this ;  but  it  was  much  more.  And  to  the 
apostles  was  accorded  the  happiness  of  gazing  and  listening 
and  moving  with  Him,  as  He  "went  about  doing  good";  but 
this  was  not  all,  as  regarded  them,  or  as  regards  us.  They  were 
under  direct  and  most  careful  training  for  the  work  which  they 
were  appointed  to  do,  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  when 
Christ  was  gone  from  the  earth.  Dr.  Macdonald  does  well  in 
calling  our  attention  very  definitely  to  this  point.  He  says  most 
correctly  that  "  in  any  account  that  would  present  truly  the  life 
and  character  of  the  disciple "  it  is  essential  to  make  "  the 
freest  use "  of  the  familiar  Gospel  history,  as  showing  the  con- 
nection of  the  Master  and  the  disciple  :  "  for  it  was  under  the 
instruction  and  ministry  of  the  Saviour  that  he  received  his  pre- 
paration for  the  high  office  and  special  work  to  which  he  was 
called;  nor  can  we  appreciate  the  ministry  of  ^Christ  aright 
until  we  learn  to  view  it,  not  so  much  in  its  direct  influence  on 
the  world  at  large,  as  designed  to  instruct  and  train  the  apostles 
for  their  work/'  And  again  the  author  says  :  "  The  Founder  of 
Christianity  did  not  send  forth  uninstructed,  untrained,  undisci- 
plined men  to  do  His  work ;  the  apostles  have  been  so  often  de- 
scribed as  rude,  untaught  fishermen,  that  it  is  the  more  important 
to  notice  their  advantages  over  all  other  men  in  their  contact  and 
vclose  association  with  the  Greatest  of  Teachers  for  a  period  of  more 
than  three  years."  And  once  more  :  "  While  many  others  were 


INTRODUCTION.  XXIX 

instructed  and  blessed  through  His  ministrations,  the  chief  end  of 
the  Saviour  evidently  was  to  prepare  for  their  great  office  those  to 
whom  He  was  to  commit  the  work  of  establishing  His  kingdom  : 
never  had  men  such  teacher  before  :  for  three  years  they  were 
under  the  careful  training  of  Him  who  knew  all  the  secrets  of 
mind  as  well  as  heart."1 

Such  remarks,  while  true  of  the  relation  of  Christ  to  the  whole 
of  His  faithful  eleven,  have  a  special  force  in  connection  with  St. 
John,  partly  because  his  apostolic  work  extended  over  the  longest 
range  of  time,  partly  because  his  writings  are  of  varied  character 
and  constitute  a  large  and  singularly  precious  part  of  the  Sacred 
Canon,  but  likewise  on  account  of  his  peculiar  intimacy  with  our 
Lord.  Not  only  had  John,  in  common  with  all  the  twelve, 
those  opportunities  of  learning  which  have  been  named  above, 
but  to  him  was  vouchsafed,  in  a  sense  to  which  even  Peter  could 
lay  no  claim,  a  close  friendship  with  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  In 
this  fact  there  is  a  depth  of  meaning  which  even  very  slight  re- 
flection enables  us  to  appreciate  as  of  the  utmost  moment.  Some- 
thing has  been  said  above  of  the  influence  of  Salome,  of  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Baptist,  upon  St.  John  the  Evangelist :  but  here  is  an 
influence  greater  and  more  pervading,  exercised  in  a  method 
which  gave  to  it  the  utmost  advantage,  and  having  its  opportuni- 
ties in  all  the  incidental  circumstances  of  daily  life.  In  consider- 
ing the  subject  that  is  before  us,  it  is  highly  important  to  bear 
this  friendship  in  mind,  when  we  think  of  Cana  and  Capernaumx.  of 
the  journeys  to  Samaria,  of  the  visits  to  the  Syrophoenician  frontier 
and  to  the  other  side  of  the  Jordan.  John  saw  the  miracles 
that  were  wrought,  whether  he  records  them  or  not.  He  heard 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  the  words  spoken  at  Csesarea  Philippi, 
the  discourses  in  the  Temple.  All  these  were  opportunities  of 
learning  and  preparation,  and  perhaps  we  may  venture  to  say 
that  they  were  more  to  him  than  to  any  others  of  the  companions 
of  the  Lord.  Certainly  to  him  was  assigned  the  innermost  place, 
1  See  pp.  45,  72,  86. 


XXX  INTEODUCTION. 

when  instruction  was  addressed  in  private  to  the  chosen  twelve. 
It  is  lawful  to  conjecture  that  he  alone  may  have  had  privileges  of 
this  kind  that  were  not  accorded  to  the  rest.  It  seems  highly 
probable  that  he  was  present  at  that  secret  interview  with  Nico- 
demus  which  the  other  evangelists  do  not  relate.1  It  is  hardly 
necessary  to  remind  the  reader  that,  at  the  last,  St.  John  appears 
in  a  place  of  peculiar  honour  and  power,  when  appointed  along 
with  the  others,  to  be  ' '  a  witness  of  the  Kesurrection." 

It  is  evidently  a  great  advantage  to  us  to  be  able  to  look  at  the 
work  of  Jesus  Christ  through  the  medium  of  the  biography  of  St. 
John,  to  see  as  he  saw,  and  to  endeavour  to  share  his  feelings.  If 
we  follow  the  Great  Biography  by  the  help  of  this  thread,  we 
may  expect  to  meet  some  aspects  of  the  truth  which  otherwise 
we  might  miss.  Even  if  we  are  familiar  with  the  general  distri- 
bution of  hill  and  dale,  of  wood  and  water,  over  a  range  of  country 
which  we  admire  and  love,  we  always  learn  something  new  con- 
cerning it  when  we  traverse  it  by  a  path,  even  though  it  be  a 
narrow  and  secluded  path,  which  we  have  never  traversed  before. 

This  train  of  thought  brings  us  at  once  to  the  consideration  of 
the  characteristics  of  St.  John's  Gospel,  as  compared  with  the 
other  three,  and  to  the  distinctive  features  of  St.  John's  writings 
generally.  This  is  far  too  large  a  subject  to  be  dealt  with  adequately 
in  a  mere  Introduction,  or  even  in  a  volume  of  moderate  size. 
Moreover  these  few  pages  are  intended  to  have  reference  to  his 
writings  chiefly  in  one  aspect,  namely,  as  bound  together  by 
St.  John's  personality.  Still,  with  this  limited  end  in  view,  a 
few  words  must  be  said  on  these  writings,  the  study  of  which  is 
so  much  enhanced  to  us  when  we  connect  them  by  this  golden 
thread. 

As  regards  the  Gospel  of  St.  John,  it  seems  to  me  desirable,  in 
following  the  line  of  study  to  which  we  are  invited  in  the  volume 
before  us,  to  note  as  sharply  as  possible  the  differences  which 
separate  it  from  the  other  Gospels,  and  then,  in  order  to  restore 

1  See  p.  58. 


INTEODUCTION.  XXXI 

the  balance  of  truth,  to  observe  with  equal  care  the  resemblances 
which  give   a  deep  inward  unity  to   the  four  accounts  of  our 
Lord.     By  making  the  most  of  these  two  contrasted  methods, 
and  not  diluting  either  of  them  for  the  sake  of  accommodation  to 
the  other,  we  shall,  as  it  appears  to  me,  best  acquire  a  correct 
view  of  the  whole  case.     To  illustrate  what  I  mean  I  will  bring 
forward  two  English  writers  of  very  different  dates,  one  of  them 
a  recent  and  a  living  writer,  the  other  renowned  nearly  a  hundred 
years  ago  for  his  varied  defences  of  Natural  and  Revealed  Religion. 
The  Bishop  of  Derry  is  writing  of  the  style  of  St.  John,  and 
remarks  that  it  is  very  natural  if  we  find  it  like  the  style  of  the 
discourses  in  the  Gospel.1     "  Remember  that  that  disciple  was 
John,   and   that   master  Jesus."      There   are   certain   favourite 
words    such    as   "light    and    darkness,    life    and    death,   love 
and  hate,  truth  and  lie,  world,  abiding,"  which   St.  John  had 
not  taught  himself   to   apply  to   his  own  thoughts.     "  He  had 
heard  them  in  the  long  golden  hush  of  the  summer  evenings  by 
the  shore  of  the  Lake  of  Galilee;  in  the  sorrow  of  the  guest 
chamber ;  between  the  brook  of  Kedron  and  the  Garden  of  the 
Agony ;  during  the  days  when  the  risen  Lord  spoke  to  them  of 
the  things  pertaining  to  the  kingdom  of  God."    Such  words  were 
not  merely  in  his  memory  :  they  had  entered  into  his  soul.     "  He 
had  made  them  so  lovingly  his  own,  that  he  could  use  them  with 

1  The  Leading  Ideas  of  the  Gospel,  pp.  139,  140.  I  have  somewhat  inadvertently 
here  run  off  the  line  I  was  intending  to  follow.  The  Bishop  of  Derry  is  in  this 
passage  comparing  the  style  of  the  Epistles  of  St.  John  with  the  discourses  of  Christ 
as  given  in  his  Gospel.  Still  I  will  leave  the  passage  as  it  stands ;  for  resemblance 
between  the  Epistles  of  St.  John  and  his  Gospel  is  a  point  to  which,  in  a  study  like 
this,  we  are  bound  particularly  to  attend.  Elsewhere  in  these  sermons  the  Bishop  of 
Derry  dwells,  in  a  most  instructive  and  suggestive  manner,  on  the  distinctive  pecu- 
liarities of  this  Gospel.  Thus  after  remarking  that  in  it  the  miracles  are  few,  while 
yet  the  greatest  stress  is  laid  on  them,  he  says  that  while  in  all  the  Gospels  the 
miracles  both  prove  and  teach,  in  the  others  they  chiefly  prove,  here  they  chiefly 
teach ;  and  he  quotes  St.  Augustine  to  this  effect :  "  Our  Lord  did  not  merely  work 
miracles  for  the  miracle's  sake,  but  that  the  things  which  He  wrought  might  be  true 
to  those  who  could  understand  them,  as  well  as  marvellous  to  those  who  beheld 
them."  Pp.  122-126. 


XXX11  INTRODUCTION. 

unerring  precision."  It  has  been  asked  whether  it  is  the  son  of 
Zebedee  who  has  given  to  us  lessons  of  abstract  metaphysics,  to 
which  we  find  no  parallel  in  the  Synoptical  Gospels ;  and  the 
answer  is,  "  Certainly,  for  he  had  heard  them  from  Christ." 

These  fragments  of  quotation  may  suffice  to  indicate  a  method, 
which  will  enable  us  to  appreciate  some  of  the  distinctive  pecu- 
liarities of  St.  John.  But  in  order  to  see  the  whole  case  clearly 
we  must  turn  to  the  other  side ;  and  here  one  of  Paley's  chapters 
may  be  used  to  help  us  to  perceive  the  deep  inner  unity  which 
binds  together  this  Gospel  with  the  others.  I  refer  to  his  chapter 
on  "  the  Identity  of  Christ's  Character,"  one  of  the  best  in  his 
treatise  on  The  Evidences  of  Christianity.1  It  has  often  been 
remarked  that  in  St.  John's  Gospel  there  are  no  parables,  in  the 
strictest  sense  of  the  word.  But  alike  in  this  Gospel  and  in  the 
others  there  is  a  mode  of  teaching,  characteristic  of  the  Saviour, 
and  different  from  what  we  find  in  any  of  His  apostles.  This  is 
the  Lord's  habit  of  "  drawing  His  doctrine  from  the  occasion — or, 
which  is  nearly  the  same  thing,  raising  reflections  from  the 
objects  and  incidents  before  Him,  or  turning  a  particular  dis- 
course then  passing  into  an  opportunity  of  general  instruction." 
Instances  are  given  from  the  Synoptical  Gospels,  such  as  the 
warning  concerning  "  the  leaven  of  the  Pharisees,"  arising  from 
the  circumstance  that  the  disciples  had  forgotten  to  take 
bread,  the  inculcation  of  the  necessity  of  a  childlike  spirit  on 
the  occasion  of  young  children  being  brought  to  Him,  the 
parable  of  "  the  Great  Supper," .  suggested  by  the  supper  at 
which  He  was  present  :2  and  parallel  instances  are  then  given 
from  St.  John,  such  as  the  address  concerning  "  living  Water  " 
to  the  woman  of  Samaria  at  the  well,  and  the  discourse  con- 
cerning "  the  Light  of  the  World "  in  the  presence  of  a  blind 
man.3  "  The  manner  of  Christ,"  says  Paley,  "  discovers  itself  in 

1  Part  II.,  Chap.  iv. 

2  Matt.  xvi.  5 ;  Mark  x.  13-15  ;  Luke  xiv.  15. 
3  John  iv.  10,  ix.  1-5. 


INTRODUCTION.  XXX111 

St.  John/'  and  he  follows  the  same  method  of  comparison  into 
other  particulars.     "  All  this/'  he  adds,  "  bespeaks  reality." 

As  regards  the  Epistles  of  St.  John,  contrast  may  be  again 
useful,  and  part  of  their  distinctive  character  may  be  set  forth  by 
a  comparison  with  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul.  There  is  a  remark- 
able absence  from  these  three  sacred  letters  of  that  constant  ego- 
ism (if  the  term  may  be  used)  which  we  find  throughout  the 
correspondence  of  his  brother  apostle.  It  was  indeed  a  superficial 
remark,  which  was  once  made  by  a  young  theologian,  that  he 
liked  St.  John  better  than  St.  Paul,  because  he  says  less  of  him- 
self. We  should  be  much  poorer  than  we  are,  and  much  weaker 
for  spiritual  work  in  the  world,  if  we  had  not  been  allowed  to  see 
the  inner  movements  of  St.  Paul's  heart.  But  the  egoism  of  St. 
John  is  of  a  different  kind.  What  he  has  to  say  to  us  of  himself 
is  that  he  had  personally  known  and  lived  with  the  Incarnate 
Word.  And,  once  more,  there  is  a  difference  of  style,  which  we 
easily  connect  with  the  characters  of  the  two  men.  In  St.  John 
truth  is  the  result  of  intuition ;  in  St.  Paul  it  is  set  forth  in  argu- 
ment. We  could  not  imagine  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  or  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans  written  by  the  former. 

Concerning  the  Book  of  Revelation  I  will  say  nothing,  except 
to  invite  attention  to  the  arguments  by  which  Dr.  Macdonald 
endeavours  to  fix  its  date.  The  reasoning  seems  to  me  very 
well  drawn  out,  which  assigns  the  writing  of  this  part  of  Holy 
Scripture  to  a  time  intermediate  between  the  Gospel  and  the 
Epistles  of  St.  John.1 

In  undertaking  the  responsibility  of  editing  this  book,  it  is 
obvious  that  I  do  not  commit  myself  to  the  author's  view  of  the 
meaning  of  every  passage  in  detail,  or  even  broadly  to  his  general 
interpretation  of  difficult  parts  of  Holy  Scripture.  This  is  the 
last  thing  which  Dr.  Macdonald  would  liave  expected  me  to  do  ; 
yet  it  is  desirable  to  preclude  all  misapprehension  on  the  point. 

1  See  Chapter  IX.  In  an  earlier  part  of  bis  life  Dr.  Macdonald  wrote  a  Com- 
mentary on  tLid  book. 

a  a 


XXXIV  TNTRODUCTION. 

I  will  give  just  one  illustration  as  regards  matters  of  detail,  and 
then  make  just  one  reference  to  an  important  general  question 
of  Biblical  exegesis. 

In    commenting  on  that  passage  in  the  third  chapter  of  St. 
John's  Gospel,  where  the  doctrine  of  the  new  birth  is  unfolded/ 
Dr.  Macdonald    says   of   the   words    "  Except   a   man   be  born 
of   water   and   of   the  Spirit,  he   cannot  enter   into   the   king- 
dom  of  God/'   that  the  Sacrament   of   baptism    cannot  be    al- 
luded to,  because  it  was    "not   then    instituted   as  a   Christian 
rite." 2     I   am  not  here  discussing  the  question  of  the   precise 
nature  of   the   reference  which   is    here  made  to  baptism,    but 
the   argument  which  the  author  employs.     Surely  when  we  re- 
member that  our  Lord  was  about  to  institute  the  Sacrament  of 
baptism.,    and  knew  that    He  was  about   to  institute  it, — when 
we  remember  further  that,  when  St.  John  wrote,  it  had  been  insti- 
tuted,— we  find  it  natural  to  see  here  an  anticipative  reference  to 
baptism.    When  we  are  meditating  on  our  Lord's  question  to  the 
Jews,  "  What  and  if  ye  shall  see  the  Son  of  man  ascend  where 
He  was  before  ? "  it  would  not  be  sound  logic  to  say  that  there 
could  be  no  anticipative  reference  to  the  Ascension,  because  that 
event  had  not  then  taken  place.3     And  indeed  our  author  is  here 
not  quite  consistent   with  himself;  for  when   he   reaches  those 
words   in  the. sixth    chapter,4  "Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you, 
Except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man,  and  drink  His  blood, 
ye  have  no  life  in  you,"  his  note  is  as  follows  :5  "  Although  the 
Lord's  Supper  had  not  yet  been  instituted,  we  unmistakably  find 
here  the  idea  which  underlies  that  Holy  Sacrament,  and  the  great 
doctrine  which  in  the  breaking  of  bread  and  the  pouring  out  of  wine 
is  set  forth,  the  expiatory  death  of  Christ ;  we  find  the  same  men- 
tion of  the  death  of  Jesus,  or  in  the  same  form  of  speech,  as  in  the 
institutive  words  of  the  Supper,  and  proclamation  of  the  same 
truths  of  which  that  ordinance  is  the  symbol  and  the  memorial." 

1  John  iii.  5.  2  See  p.  289. 

»  John  vi.  62.  4  Verse  53.  5  See  p.  310, 


INTRODUCTION.  XXXV 

Let  me  add,  however, — and  I  have  made  the  present  reference 
to  these  passages  partly  because  they  give  me  a  welcome  oppor- 
tunity for  adding — that  I  cordially  agree  with  Dr.  Macdonald  in 
the  supremacy  which  he  assigns  in  this  book  to  the  spiritual  as- 
pect of  Christianity,  as  high  above  all  outward  ordinances,  even  if 
they  be  divinely  appointed  Sacraments.  He  has  caught  the  spirit 
of  the  Lord's  words  given  by  St.  John  in  the  fourth  chapter, 
' l  God  is  a  Spirit,  and  they  that  worship  Him  must  worship  Him  in 
spirit  and  in  truth ; "  and  again  in  the  sixth, — "  It  is  the  Spirit 
that  quickeneth ;  the  flesh  profiteth  nothing  :  the  words  that  I 
speak  unto  you,  they  are  spirit  and  they  are  life." 

It  will  be  conjectured  that  the  general  exegetical  subject  to 
which  I  have  referred  is  the  interpretation  of  the  Apocalypse.  I 
must  confess  that  much  of  this  great  question  still  remains  very 
dark  to  me ;  and  my  conviction  is  not  clear  that  we  are  to  find 
the  full  interpretation  of  certain  chapters  of  this  mysterious 
book  in  the  cruelty,  superstition,  and  corruption  of  the  Papal 
Church.  I  will  not  here  bring  forward  any  arguments  which 
might  be  employed  against  Dr.  Macdonald's  views.  It  is  no 
part  of  my  task  in  this  Introduction  to  combat  any  opinions 
of  the  author  whom  I  desire  to  recommend.  And  indeed  I 
must  confess  that  facts  which  history  has  made  known  to  us 
concerning  the  Church  of  the  Vatican  have  a  very  close  re- 
semblance to  these  portions  of  the  prophecy  in  the  Apocalypse. 
And  I  will  here  adduce  the  words  of  one  of  the  most  learned  of 
our  English  theologians,  who  has  a  special  claim  to  be  listened  to 
in  regard  to  the  subject.  The  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  in  his  Hulsean 
Lectures,  writes  thus  : l  "  Having  been  led  in  these  discourses  to 
devote  the  best  faculties  at  my  command  to  this  solemn  subject, 
I  should  feel  myself  guilty  of  culpable  dereliction  of  duty  in  the 
sight  of  Almighty  God  if  I  did  not  declare  that  the  prophecies 
contained  in  the  thirteenth,  fourteenth,  sixteenth,  seventeenth, 
eighteenth  and  nineteenth  chapters  of  the  Revelation  of  St.  John 
1  Hulsean  Lectures  for  1848,  Sec.  x.,  p.  274. 


XXXVI  INTRODUCTION. 

the  Divine,  and  which  describe  the  guilt  and  portray  the  punish- 
ment of  the  mystical  BABYLON,  have  been  partly  accomplished,  and 
are  in  course  of  complete  accomplishment,  in  the  CHURCH  OF 
KOME."  "  This,  I  well  know/'  he  adds,  "  is  a  very  grave  asser- 
tion ;  and  ought  not  to  be  made  without  the  most  serious  delibera- 
tion." 

I  feel  the  greater  interest  and  satisfaction  in  being  allowed  to 
have  some  share  in  the  bringing  of  this  book  before  the  public, 
because  it  represents,  on  a  small  scale,  that  co-operation  between 
England  and  America,  in  reference  to  Biblical  subjects,  which 
may  be  expected  to  'be  full  of  blessing  to  mankind.  If  I  may  give 
one  illustration  of  what  I  mean,  I  will  mention  the  New  York 
edition  of  The  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  enriched  by  the  notes  of 
Dr.  Abbott  and  Dr.  Hackett.  The  former  of  these  theologians 
gave  me  those  volumes  on  a  well-remembered  occasion  in  the 
Library  of  Harvard  University.  The  latter,  like  Dr.  Macdonald, 
has  been  taken  from  us  by  death.  But  death  does  not  destroy 
the  fruits  of  the  labours  of  such  men;  and  those  who  survive  may 
still  feel  that  they  are  fellow-labourers,  on  very  sacred  ground, 
with  those  who  are  gone. 


J.  S.  HOWSON. 


THE  DEANERY,  CHESTER, 
Dec.  7th,  1876. 


THE 

LIFE  AND  WRITINGS  OF  ST.  JOHN, 


CHAPTER  I. 

PLACE  IN  HISTORY,  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THE   PERIOD   IN 
WHICH  THE  APOSTLE  JOHN  APPEARED. 

LIFE  OF  ST.  JOHN  COEVAL  WITH  THE  FIRST  CENTURY. — DATE  OF  CHRIST'S 
BIRTH. — JULIUS  C^SAR. — POMPET  THE  GREAT. — HIS  MARCH  INTO  JUD&A. 
— HOLY  LAND  BECOMES  TRIBUTARY. — HE  PROFANES  THE  HOLY  OF  HOLIES. 
— ENTERS  ROME  IN  TRIUMPH. — JULIUS  OESAR  BECOMES  SUPREME. AP- 
POINTS ANTIPATER  PROCURATOR  OF  JUD.EA. — HIS  SON  HEROD  GOVERNOR 
OF  GALILEE. — JULIUS  C^SAR  ASSASSINATED. — HEROD  APPOINTED  KING  OF 
JUDJEA. — AUGUSTUS  C^SAR  BECOMES  EMPEROR. EXTENT  OF  ROMAN  EM- 
PIRE.— UNIVERSAL  PEACE. — BIRTH  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. — DEATH  OF  HEROD 

THE      GREAT. — ARCHELAUS     AND      ANTIPAS. — ARCHELAUS      DEPOSED. QUI- 

RINIUS  GOVERNOR  OF  SYRIA. — SUCCESSIVE  PROCURATORS  OF  JUD.EA. — DEATH 

OF  AUGUSTUS. — TIBERIUS  CJESAR. CAIAPHAS. — PONTIUS  PILATE. ---HEATHEN 

WORLD. — PAGAN  LITERATURE. — ALEXANDRIAN  LIBRARY  DESTROYED. — CHA- 
RACTER OF  THE  PERIOD  FROM  CONDITION  OF  THE  JEWISH  PEOPLE. 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  MESSIANIC  PROPHECY. — THE  LAW  A  SCHOOLMASTER. — 
CEREMONIAL  LAW. — CLEAR  DAWNING  WHEN  ST.  JOHN  CAME  ON  THE 
STAGE. 

THE  life  of  the  apostle  John,  from  near  the  beginning  of  the  first 
century  of  the  Christian  era,  stretches  on  to  the  beginning  of  the 
second.  If  he  was  one  hundred  years  old  at  his  death,  it  overlaps  the 
second  century  as  much  as  it  falls  short  of  being  coterminous  with  the 
beginning  of  the  first.  A  history  of  his  life,  therefore,  especially  when 
Christianity,  of  which  he  was  so  important  a  representative,  is  viewed 
in  its  relations  to  subsequent  developments  and  changes  in  the  con- 
dition of  nations,  must  form  one  of  the  most  deeply  interesting  chapters, 
not  only  in  ecclesiastical  history,  but  in  the  annals  of  the  human  race. 
Born  under  the  reign  of  the  first  of  the  Caesars,  who  wore  undisputed 


r&i  ^i^*1^      -THE   UW'AND   WRITINGS   OP   ST.  JOHN. 

the  title  of  emperor,  he  was  contemporary  with  the  remainder  of  the 
twelve,  and  probably  outlived  the  last. 

The  greatest  event  of  time,  the  birth  of  the  world's  REDEEMER/ 
occurred  not  long  before  the  death  of  Herod  the  Great,  which  hap- 
pened A.u.C.  750,  just  before  the  Jewish  passover;2  i.e.,  some  four 
years  earlier  than  the  Dionysian  reckoning,  or  the  common  era.  If 
John  was  born  some  four  or  five  years  later  than  Jesus,  the  period  of 
his  birth  would  nearly,  or  quite  exactly,  correspond  with  the  first  year 
of  the  common  era,  whilst  the  dynasty  of  Herod  still  maintained  a 
sickly  existence  in  the  reign  of  his  son  Archelaus.  The  history  of 
the  Herodian  dynasty,  and  that  of  the  great  empire  whose  authority 
this  dynasty  represented  in  the  Holy  Land,  are  brought  so  much  in 
contact  with  Christian  history  in  its  beginning,  or  throughout  the 
century  during  which  the  Apostle  John  lived,  that  a  survey  of  their 
leading  points  will  be  justified,  if  it  is  not  rather  required. 

One  hundred  years  before  Christ,  the  foremost  man  in  the  annals  of 
the  ancient  world,  Julius  Caesar,  was  born.  At  the  early  age  of  twenty- 
two,  having  already  identified  himself  with  the  popular  party,  he 
appeared  at  Rome,  on  hearing  of  the  death  of  the  dictator  Sulla,  and 

1  Matt.  ii.  10. 

2  Jos.  Ant.,  xvii.,  8  (1) ;  Wars,  i.,  33  (8) ;  Wieseler,  Chron.   Syn.,  p.  57;  Robin- 
son's Harm.,  p.  167.      Cyrenius  (Luke  ii.  1-7),  or  Quirinius,  appears  to  have  been 
twice  governor  of  Syria.     First,  from  the  year  of  Eome  (A.U.C.)  750  to  753,  having 
succeeded  Varus  toward  the  close  of  750.     He  was  made  governor  the  second  time 
at  the  end  of  the  Herodian  dynasty,  after  the  banishment  of  Archelaus.     (See 
A.  W.  Zumpt's,  Berlin,  Commentatio  de  Syria  Romanorum  provincia  a  Ccesare 
Augusto  ad   Tit.    Vespasianum.    Comment.  Epigr.   ad  Antiq.  Rom.,  ii.,    71-150.) 
The  census,  or  enrolment  (registration),  appears  to  have   been   commenced   in 
Palestine  before  Herod's  death,  who  was  a  rex  socius,  i.e.,  held  his  title  from,  and 
was  tributary  to,  the  Koman   empire.      As  Herod's  death  occurred   A.U.C.    750, 
just  before  the  passover  (Jos.  Ant.,  xvii.,  8),  this  note  of  time  points  to  the  year 
of  Eome  749,  as  coincident  with  the  first  year  of  the  Christian  era. 

Dionysius  Exiguus,  who  in  the  sixth  century  instituted  the  practice  of  dating 
from  the  birth  of  Christ,  fell  into  the  mistake  of  making  the  year  of  Christ's  birth 
coincident  with  the  year  of  Eome  754,  some  four  or  five  years  too  late.  The  Christ- 
ian world,  in  adopting  the  era,  adopted  the  mistake ;  and  although  long  since 
discovered,  no  attempt,  for  obvious  reasons,  has  been  made  to  correct  it. 

The  time,  as  given  by  Luke,  when  John  the  Baptist  is  said  to  have  entered  on 
his  ministry,  "the  fifteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  Tiberius  Ca3sar"  (Luke  iii.  1,  2), 
and  the  age  as  given  by  him  when  Jesus  was  baptized,  "  about  thirty  years  of  age  " 
(iii.  23),  have  been  made  to  yield  the  same  result  as  above  in  regard  to  the  year  of 
our  Lord's  birth,  i.e.,  provided  they  both  entered  on  their  ministry  at  the  Levitical 
age  of  thirty.  Aug.  Caesar  died  Aug.  29,  A.U.C.  767.  Tiberius  had  been  associated 
with  him  at  least  two  years  in  the  administration  at  the  time  of  his  death.  If  we 
reckon  from  the  time  when  Tiberius  was  admitted  to  this  partnership,  which  must 
have  been  as  early  as  A.U.C.  765,  and  may  have  been  in  764,  the  fifteenth  year  of 
Tiberius  began  in  A.U.C.  778 ;  and  it  follows  that  John  the  Baptist  was  born  in  748, 
and  Christ  ia  749. 


POMPEY'S  MARCH  INTO  JUDJEA.  3 

entered  on  his  great  career.  He  was  shortly  brought  into  close  con- 
nection with  another  eminent  man,  more  distinguished  for  military 
than  civic  talents,  and  who,  after  the  death  of  Sulla,  had  been  the 
chief  representative  of  the  aristocratical  party,  Pompey  the  Great.  It 
was  Pompey's  breach  with  this  party,  and  his  eventual  coalition  with 
Ceesar,  which  perhaps  tended  as  much  as  any  one  cause  to  give  success 
to  the  plans  of  the  latter.  Long  ambitious  to  obtain  the  command  of 
the  war  against  Mithridates.  Pompey  was  now  successful,  through  the 
growing  popularity  and  influence  of  Caesar.  It  was  effected  by  the 
passage  of  a  law  which  placed  almost  unlimited  power  in  Pompey's 
hands  over  the  whole  Roman  dominions.  The  measure  was  advo- 
cated by  Cicero  in  an  oration,  Pro  lege  Man-ilia,  which  has  come  down 
to  us. 

It  is  with  the  movements  of  the  Roman  army  under  Pompey,  on  its 
return  from  the  pursuit  of  Mithridates  beyond  the  Euphrates,  that 
we  connect  the  Roman  supremacy  in  Palestine.  The  year  B.C.  63  found 
him  marching  south,  through  Phoenicia  and  Ccele- Syria,  into  the 
country  of  the  Jews.  It  was  then  distracted  by  a  civil  war  between 
the  nephews  of  Aristobulus  I.,  Hyrcanus  and  Aristobulus,  degenerate 
scions  of  that  famous  Asmonean  line  of  princes  who  had  overthrown 
the  tyranny  established  by  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  and  defeated  his 
Hellenizing  designs.  Pompey  espoused  the  cause  of  Hyrcanns,  and 
with  ease  effected  the  conquest.  On  the  surrender  of  Jerusalem,  he 
went  to  the  temple,  and  entered  the  holy  of  holies,  the  first  time  that 
any  human  being,  except  the  high- priest,  had  dared  to  penetrate  within 
its  awful  precincts.  He  carried  Aristobulus  with  him  a  captive  to 
Rome.  Although  the  government  was  left  in  the  hands  of  Hyrcanus, 
the  nation  was  made  tributary,  and  was  henceforth  compelled  to 
acknowledge  the  authority  of  the  great  people  whose  capital  lay 
across  the  sea  in  another  continent. 

Never  was  there  a  more  glorious  triumph  accorded  to  mortal  than 
that  of  Pompey  on  his  return  to  Rome.  Aristobulus  was  made  an  ex- 
ception, however,  to  the  clemency  displayed  on  this  occasion,  and 
was  retained  in  captivity  through  fear  of  the  commotion  he  might  ex- 
cite in  Judaea,  if  permitted  to  return.  But  if  this  triumph  was  the  most 
glorious  period  in  Pompey's  life,  his  glory  from  that  moment,  as  if  the 
avenger  had  pursued  him  for  his  sacrilege  in  passing  within  the  veil, 
began  to  decline.  For  twenty  years  he  had  been  the  first  man  in  the 
Roman  world,  and  his  power  had  been  steadily  increasing ;  but  from 
this  time,  he  was  not  long  in  discovering  that  the  genius  of  another 
had  reduced  him  to  a  subordinate  place.  Julius  Caesar  strode  steadily 
forward  to  supreme  power  in  the  state.  The  battle  of  Pharsalia 
decided  the  fate  of  the  republic  and  the  supremacy  of  Caesar.  In  the 


4  THE    LIFE   AND    WRITINGS    OF   ST.  JOHN. 

following  year,  B.C.  47,  Antipater,  an  Idumcan,  was  appointed  by  him 
procurator  of  Judaea.  His  second  son,  Herod,  afterwards  surnamed 
the  Great,  though  only,  according  to  Josephus,  fifteen  years  of  age,1 
was  made  governor  of  Galilee.  Caesar  had  not  completed  his  fifty- 
sixth  year  at  the  time  of  his  assassination,  on  the  15th  of  March,  B.C. 
44  ;  but  by  the  strong  domination  of  his  will,  and  Ins  varied  gifts 3 
as  a  commander,  statesman,  and  lawgiver,  he  had  rescued  his  country 
from  anarchy.  At  his  fall  there  was  a  renewal  of  a  state  of  civil  dis- 
order, which  continued  for  the  period  of  half  a  generation,  and  was 
only  allayed  by  the  final  establishment  of  the  empire,  under  his  nephew 
Augustus. 

Before  the  close  of  the  year,  B.C.  40,  Antipater  having  been  poisoned, 
Herod,  at  the  instance  of  Antony  and  Octavianus  (subsequently  known 
as  Augustus),  was  solemnly  appointed  the  king  of  Judaea.  He  married 
Mariamne,  the  granddaughter  of  Hyrcanus,  in  order  in  some  degree  to 
be  endowed  in  the  eyes  of  the  people  with  a  lawful  title  to  the  throne. 
He  established  his  power  by  deeds  of  unparalleled  cruelty,  among  which 
was  at  length  his  attempt  to  extirpate  the  entire  race  of  the  Maccabees, 
not  excepting  his  own  wife  and  children.  It  was  to  conciliate  the 
people  alienated  by  his  atrocities,  that  he  expended,  during  a  long 
series  of  years,  vast  sums  in  repairing  and  beautifying  the  temple. 

The  emperor  Augustus  (Caesar  Octavianus)  came  to  the  sole  and 
supreme  dignity  in  the  year  B.C.  27.  The  Roman  empire  then  in- 
cluded the  fairest  portion  of  the  known  world,  enclosed  by  the 
Danube  and  the  Rhine,  the  Euphrates,  and  the  deserts  of  Africa  and 
Syria,  containing  a  population  of  at  least  one  hundred  and  twenty 
millions.  The  sea,  well  named  MARE  INTERNUM,  lay  in  the  midst, 
washing  the  shores  of  three  continents ;  and  giving  to  the  empire,  as 
outlined  on  the  map,  the  appearance  of  one  of  those  huge  beasts 
which,  in  the  prophecies  of  Daniel  and  John,  are  such  favourite  symbols 
of  mighty  world-powers. 

1  Milman  says  he  must  have  been  at  least  from  20  to  25.  (Hist,  of  Jews,  ii.,  p.  60.) 

2  Besides  the  Commentaries  he  wrote  works  which  are  lost,  but  the  mere  titles  of 
which  are  proof  of  his  literary  culture  and  extensive  knowledge.      (1)  "  Orationes." 
As  an  orator,  the  ancients  describe  him  as  inferior  only  to  Cicero.     (Quintil.,  x.,  1., 
§  114  ;  Tac.,  Ann.  xiii.,  3  ;  Plut.,  Cces.,  3  ;    Suet.,  Cees.,  55.)  (2)  "  Anticato,"  in  two 
books,  in  reply  to  Cicero's  "  Cato."  (3)  "De  Analogia,"  in  two  books:  disquisitions 
on  the  Latin  language  ;  or,  as  Cicero  styles  it,  "  De  Katione  Latine   loquendi ;  "  it 
was  written  while  crossing  the  Alps  on  one  of  his  military  journeys.    (Cicero,  Brut., 
72  ;  Pliny,  H.  N.,  vii.  30,  s.  31 ;    Quintil.,  i.,  7,  §  34.)     (4)  "  Libri  Auspieiorum," 
or  "Auguralia."     (5)  "  Apophthegmata,"  or  "Dicta  CoUectanea  :"   a  collection  of 
good  sayings.     (6)  "DeAstris,"  in  which  he  treated  of  the  heavenly  bodies.     (7) 
"  Poemata,"  including  a  tragedy,  "  (Edipus."     (8)  "Epistolae,"  of  which  several 
are  preserved.      (See  Art.  Julius  Caesar,  in  Diet,  of  Greek  and  Rom.  Eiog.  and 
Myth.,  by  William  Smith,  LL.D.) 


HEROD  THE  GREAT.  5 

Over  the  heterogeneous  millions  of  this  vast  territory,  Augustus, 
without  seeming  to  assume  unusual  power,  by  the  simple  process  of 
uniting  all  offices  in  his  own  person,  concealing  his  usurpations  under 
legal  forms,  engrossed  and  monopolized  the  whole.  At  length  for  the 
third  time  the  temple  of  Janus  was  closed.  In  this  time  of  universal 
peace,  a  few  months  before  the  death  of  Herod  the  Great,  was  born 
JESUS  CHRIST,  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  It  was  the  tidings  of  this 
event,  brought  by  the  arrival  of  the  Magians  from  the  East,  which  led 
this  bloody  tyrant  to  issue  his  decree  for  the  massacre  of  the  innocents 
of  Bethlehem.  One  of  his  last  acts  was  to  put  to  death  his  eldest  son, 
Antipater.  Five  days  after,  he  suffered  a  miserable  death,  his  body 
putrefying  before  life  was  extinct,  rendering  him  an  object  of  loathing 
to  himself  and  all  who  attended  him. 

By  the  will  of  Herod  his  dominions  were  divided  among  his  three 
sons.  Archelaus  received  Judaea,  Samaria,  and  Idumea,  with  the  title  of 
king,  which  with  him  was  no  more  than  an  empty  title,  and  now  that 
the  true  King  of  Zion  had  come,  was  to  pass  away  from  Judah  for 
ever.  Herod  Antipas  received  Galilee  and  Perea;  and  to  Philip  was 
assigned  the  north-eastern  portion  of  the  country  beyond  the  Jordan, 
Trachonitis.1  Both  Archelaus  and  Antipas  hastened  to  Rome,  where 
the  latter  sought  to  have  his  father's  will  set  aside,  and  obtain  the 
royal  dignity  for  himself.  Augustus  ratified,  in  all  essential  points,  the 
will  of  Herod  the  Great,  with  the  promise  of  continuing  the  title  of 
king  to  Archelaus,  should  he  be  found  to  deserve  it.  His  government, 
however,  notwithstanding  his  large  professions  of  moderation,  proved 
most  corrupt  and  tyrannical;  and  charges  having  been  brought  against 
him,  he  was  deposed  and  banished,  in  the  tenth  year  of  his  reign.  His 
territories  were  attached  to  Syria,  and  governed  by  Roman  procura- 
tors, who  held  their  court  in  Cassarea,  on  the  Mediterranean,  visiting 
Jerusalem  on  great  public  occasions. 

Quirinius  (the  Cyrenius  of  Josephus  and  Luke)  was  the  governor 
of  Syria  at  this  time;  and  Coponius  was  sent  to  exercise  the  office 
of  procurator  under  him  in  the  government  of  Juda3a.  Quirinius 
had  been  governor  of  Syria  before,  from  A.u.C.  750  to  753,  when  the 
taxing  that  was  going  on  at  the  birth  of  Jesus,  and  which  seems  to 
have  been  interrupted  by  the  death  of  Herod,  was  completed.  Thus 
the  sceptre  which  Herod  the  Great  left  to  Archelaus,  subject  to  the 
will  of  the  emperor,  proved  to  be  but  a  mere  shadow,  as  Augustus 
permitted  him  to  wear  the  title  only  by  mere  sufferance  and  con- 
ditionally, and  on  his  failure  to  fulfil  the  conditions,  soon  deposed 
him  from  the  government  altogether.  The  title  for  ever  lapsed,  and 
the  reins  of  government  passed  into  the  hands  of  Roman  governors 
1  Dion  Cass.,  lv.,  27 ;  Jos.  Ant.,  xvii.,  1  (3) ;  Wars,  i.,  28  (4). 


6  THE    LIFE    AND   WRITINGS    OP    ST.  JOHN. 

and  procurators.  Marcus  Ambivius  succeeded  Coponius,  who  was 
followed  by  Annius  Rufus,  by  whom  the  office  was  filled  at  the  period 
of  the  death  of  Augustus.  After  the  deposition  of  Archelaus,  and 
the  government  of  Judaea  had  fallen  to  the  administration  of  Quiri- 
nius,  he  appointed  Annas  (Ananus  he  is  called  by  Josephus1)  to  the 
high  priesthood.  This  was  in  A.D.  7,  according  to  the  Dionysian  or 
common  era  (which,  to  avoid  confusion,  .will  be  used  in  this  work),  the 
same  year  in  which  Archelaus  was  deposed.  He  continued  to  fill  the 
office  till  the  death  of  Augustus.  This  illustrious  ruler  lived  to  be 
seventy-five  years  of  age,  and,  weighed  down  with  cares  and  domestic 
misfortunes,  died  in  A.D.  14.  One  of  the  most  memorable  epochs  in 
the  history  of  literature,  as  well  as  in  the  civil  history  of  mankind, 
reached  its  noonday  splendour  during  his  reign.  But  the  grand 
distinction  of  his  reign  was,  that  it  was  that  "  fulness  of  time  "  when 
everything  had  been  prepared  for  the  appearing  of  the  great  DE- 
LIVERER of  the  nations. 

The  man  who  swayed  the  sceptre  during  the  larger  portion  of  our 
Lord's  life,  and  who  was  still  upon  the  throne  when  JOHN  went  forth 
on  the  duties  of  his  apostleship,  was  TIBERIUS.  He  was  well  ad- 
vanced in  life  when  he  became  emperor,  and  he  held  the  office  for 
twenty-three  years,  till  A.D.  37,  being  nearly  eighty  years  of  age  at 
the  time  of  his  death.  He  spent  his  closing  years  in  infamous  de- 
bauchery in  the  island  of  Caprese,  having  retired  altogether  from 
the  imperial  city.  On  his  accession  to  the  throne,  he  appointed 
Valerius  Gratus  to  the  procuratorship  of  Judaea,  to  succeed  Annius 
Rufus.  Gratus  at  once  deposed  Annas  from  the  high-priesthood. 
His  successor,  Ismael,  son  of  Fabus,  after  a  short  time  was  succeeded 
by  Eleazer,  son  of  Annas,  the  old  high-priest,  who,  after  a  single 
year,  was  deprived  of  the  office,  and  it  was  given  to  Simon,  son  of 
Camithus,  who  held  the  office  for  another  year ;  when  it  was  conferred 
on  Joseph  Caiaphas,  son-in-law  of  Annas,  who  filled  the  office  during 
the  remainder  of  the  reign  of  Tiberius.  Other  sons  of  Annas  filled 
this  office  at  a  still  later  period.  Gratus  administered  the  government 
eleven  years,  when  he  returned  to  Rome,  and  Pontius  Pilate,  whose 
name  is  so  familiar  in  New  Testament  history,  came  as  his  successor, 
A.D.  25  or  26.  Under  the  hated  Roman  yoke,  the  Jews  clung  only 
the  more  strongly  to  their  Messianic  hopes ;  but  it  was  for  a  political 
deliverer  they  longed,  who  should  break  this  yoke,  and  restore,  only  on 
a  more  splendid  scale,  the  kingly  power  and  state  of  David.  Hence 
they  were  the  more  deeply  offended  by  the  humble  form  of  Jesus,  and 
the  spiritual  kingdom  which  He  professed  to  found,  and  which  He 
sought  to  convince  the  people  fulfilled  the  Scriptures. 

1  Ant.,  xviii.,  2  (1). 


TIBERIUS   CAESAR. 


PAGAN    CULTUKE   AND    REFINEMENT.  7 

No  one  fact  is  made  more  evident  in  the  classics  of  pagan  an- 
tiquity than  that,  at  the  very  moment  this  history  opens,  the  entire 
heathen  world,  even  the  most  civilized  portion  of  it,  were  sunk  in 
deplorable  ignorance  of  everything  relating  to  the  true  religion,  in 
the  grossest  superstition  and  idolatry  and  in  the  most  abomin- 
able corruption  and  depravity  of  manners.  The  great  doctrines  re- 
specting God  and  a  future  life,  which  the  light  of  nature  teaches, 
or  which  had  been  diffused  in  the  world  by  tradition,  were  obscured 
and  darkened.  The  very  mythologies  had  outlived  themselves.  The 
wisest  men  were  in  the  greatest  perplexity,  and  knew  not  what  to 
believe.  They  knew  and  felt  (for  they  had  tried  the  experiment  in 
circumstances  where  there  could  be  no  influences  of  a  divine  revela- 
tion, or,  if  any,  only  the  feeblest  traditionary  light)  that  the  world  by 
"wisdom,"  i.e.,  by  philosophy,  could  never  know  God.  Hence  the 
confessions  of  the  wisest  of  them  (for  such  in  effect  are  all  their 
ethical  writings),  that  the  mere  light  of  nature  is  not  sufficient  to 
conduct  men  to  the  path  of  virtue  and  happiness ;  that  the  only 
sure  and  certain  guide  must  be  a  divine  discovery  of  the  truth.1 

Pagan  literature  having  reached  its  highest  point  of  culture, 
marked,  at  the  same  time,  the  loftiest  pinnacle  which  the  human 
mind  could  of  itself  reach.  We  look  in  vain  for  any  distinguished 
name,  in  this  literature,  subsequent  to  the  age  of  the  Antonines.  It 
is  a  most  remarkable  and  significant  fact,  that  not  a  single  valuable 
contribution  to  literature  from  that  day  to  this  has  proceeded  from 
the  entire  heathen  world.  The  literature  of  the  Saracens,  which  made 
Bagdad  and  Cordova  seats  of  civilization  and  refinement,  was  Mo- 
hammedan. Mohammed  was  of  Abrahamic  descent;  and  the  Koran 
was  derived,  to  a  considerable  extent,  from  the  Scriptures.  Every 
Moslem  scimitar  was  ready  to  leap  from  its  scabbard  to  chase  idolatry 
from  the  world.  All  that  the  mind  could  accomplish  in  philosophy 

1  In  the  Apology  of  Socrates,  he  is  represented  as  uncertain  whether  death  is  a 
state  of  unconsciousness  and  annihilation,  or  the  passage  of  the  soul  to  another 
state.  'Ej/P077<rw/ttei'  5£  /cat  TTjSe,  u>s  TroXX^  fXTrt's  ecrriv  dyadbv  avrb  elvai.  Avow  yap 
Bdrep&v  tern  rb  reOvdvai'  r)  yap  olov  fj.rjdev  elvai,  fj.r)8'  ata'dr/o'iv  fj.rjdefj.lav  /j.ydevbs  ^x.etv 
TOV  TeOveura,  ij  Kara  TO.  Xeyopeva  yu,era/3oX^  ns  rvyxdvei  oSea  KOL  fj,€TolKr)<ris  rrj  \j/vxy  TOV 
TOTTOV  TOU  evdevSe  ds  &\\ov  TOTTOV,  K.T.\.  (Apol.  Soc.,  c.  32).  In  either  case,  he  argues 
that  we  have  much  hope  that  death  may  prove  a  blessing,  dya06v.  In  the  Phasdo, 
in  which  it  is  probable  we  have  more  of  Plato's  own  modes  of  thought  than  those 
of  Socrates,  while  the  immortality  of  the  soul  is  proved  with  as  much  certainty  as 
it  is  possible  for  the  human  mind,  in  a  fallen  state,  to  arrive  at,  no  one  can  read 
it  without  feeling  on  what  vague  and  uncertain  grounds  the  whole  (eX-rris)  hope 
rested.  If  the  greatest  minds  of  antiquity  were  in  such  darkness,  as  their  specula- 
tions on  topics  of  this  nature  and  ethics  generally  prove,  their  writings  may  be 
taken  as  the  confession  of  the  Gentile  world,  as  to  their  need  of  a  divine  revela- 
tion. 


8  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

and  culture,  -without  some  superadded  influences,  was  done  in  the 
palmy  days  of  Greek  and  Roman  literature.  The  republic  of  Rome 
was  the  very  last  result  which  a  prolonged  and  careful  study 
of  jurisprudence  and  the  science  of  politics  could  elaborate ;  the 
religion  of  Rome,  the  best  that  could  be  wrought  out  by  the  un- 
assisted human  faculties.  As  if  conscious  of  the  weakness  of  every 
separate  system,  it  had  assembled  the  gods  of  all  nations  in  its  Pan- 
theon to  find,  if  possible,  in  the  huge  conglomerate  what  had  been 
sought  in  vain  among  its  separate  parts.  The  writings  of  Homer, 
of  Plato,  of  Cicero,  of  Seneca,  record  the  highest  achievements  which 
it  is  possible  for  the  mind  of  man,  from  its  own  natural  vigour  and 
perspicacity,  to  make. 

The  reason  why  ancient  culture  so  soon  reached  its  acme,  is  found  in 
its  deficiency  of  an  adequate  moral  power.  We  are  not  to  be  led  astray 
by  the  renown  of  great  names,  the  glory  of  letters,  the  external  show 
with  which  art  can  deck  a  tomb  as  well  as  a  palace,  in  our  estimate  of 
Attic  and  Roman  morals.  Their  low  standard  was  betrayed,  not  only 
by  their  gay  and  licentious  mythology  and  the  impure  mysteries  of 
their  sacred  temples,  but  in  their  ungenerous,  ungrateful,  and  unjust 
treatment  of  benefactors.  They  could  not  endure  the  presence  of 
virtue,  even  of  such  virtue  as  grew  in  nature's  soil.  Their  best 
citizens  received  the  hemlock  at  their  hands,  or  pined  in  prisons  or  in 
exile.  Their  art,  beautiful  in  its  forms,  was  cold  as  the  marble  which  it 
chiselled,  in  its  moral  tone.  They  worshipped  statuary,  and  their  tem- 
ples were  without  even  natural  religion.  Disgusting  depravity  and 
horrid  nameless  crimes  prevailed  among  the  best  members  of  society, 
in  the  best  days  of  those  polished  states.  Poetry,  philosophy,  and  elo- 
quence were  mere  aesthetic  workers,  and  could,  no  more  than  the 
gilded  canopy  of  a  sick  man's  couch,  save  a  body  which  was  festering 
with  ulcers,  from  decay.  Ornaments  and  rich  drapery  might  hide  the 
diseased  mass,  but  could  not  cure.  Let  their  history  be  divested  of  its 
fine  rhetoric,  let  the  veil  be  lifted  from  the  manners  of  private  life, 
and  society  be  seen  in  all  its  living  reality,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt 
a  most  startling  "picture  of  tragic  truth  "  would  be  presented. 

"  Scholars  and  artists,"  said  the  late  Dr.  Wayland,  "have  mourned 
for  ages  over  the  almost  universal  destruction  of  the  works  of  ancient 
genius.  The  Alexandrian  library  is  believed  to  have  contained  a 
greater  treasure  of  intellectual  riches  than  has  ever  since  been 
hoarded  in  a  single  city.  These,  we  know,  have  all  vanished  from  the 
earth.  It  furnished  fuel  for  years  for  the  bath  of  illiterate  Moslems. 
I  used  myself  frequently  to  wonder  why  it  pleased  God  to  blot 
out  of  existence  these  productions  of  ancient  genius.  But  the 
solution  of  this  mystery  is  found,  I  think,  in  the  remains  of  Hercu- 


DECADENCE   OF   PAGAN    SYSTEM.  9 

laneum  and  Pompeii.  We  there  discover  that  every  work  of  man  was 
so  penetrated  with  corruption,  every  production  of  genius  so  denied 
with  uncleanness,  that  God,  in  introducing  a  better  dispensation,  deter- 
mined to  cleanse  the  world  from  the  pollution  of  preceding  ages.  As 
when  all  flesh  had  corrupted  His  way,  He  purified  the  world  by  the 
waters  of  a  flood ;  so  when  genius  had  covered  the  earth  with  images 
of  sin,  He  overwhelmed  the  works  of  ancient  civilization  with  a  deluge 
of  barbarism,  and  consigned  the  most  splendid  monuments  of  literature 
and  art  to  almost  universal  oblivion.  It  was  too  bad  to  exist,  and  He 
swept  it  all  away  with  the  besom  of  destruction." 

Even  the  craving  for  the  sight  of  hnman  blood  had  become,  like 
hunger  for  bread,  a  recognised  popular  appetite,  which  it  was  one  of  the 
functions  of  government,  in  the  public  amphitheatres,  to  satisfy.  "  It 
was,"  says  Schlegel,  "as  if  the  iron-footed  god  of  war,  so  highly 
revered  from  of  old  by  the  people  of  Romulus,  actually  bestrode  the 
globe,  and  at  every  step  struck  out  new  torrents  of  blood  ;  or  as  if  dark 
Pluto  had  emerged  from  the  abyss  of  eternal  night,  escorted  by  all 
the  revengeful  spirits  of  the  lower  world,  by  all  the  Furies  of  passion 
and  insatiable  cupidity,  by  the  bloodthirsty  demons  of  murder,  to 
establish  his  visible  empire,  and  erect  his  throne  for  ever  on  the 
earth." 

All  attempts  to  infuse  new  life  into  the  pagan  system  proved  utterly 
futile.  It  lay  like  a  pitiable  torso,  without  head  or  hands,  on  the 
threshold  of  its  crumbling  temple.  The  experiment  which  was  com- 
menced when  men  built  the  tower  of  Babel,  had  been  fully  tried,  and 
this  was  the  result.  Neither  the  austerities  of  Egyptian  theology,  nor 
the  moralities  of  stoical  philosophy  could  infuse  new  life  into  a  religion 
which  contained  the  active  elements  of  its  own  dissolution.  False 
themselves,  and  destitute  of  the  spirit  of  faith  and  love,  these  imperial 
props  to  a  falling  idolatry  were  destined  to  pass  away. 

The  human  mind  could  never  have  advanced  further,  but  must  have 
certainly  and  hopelessly  declined,  had  not  a  new  element  of  life  and 
power  been  imparted  by  Him  who  made  it.  Like  soil  which,  from  long 
and  injudicious  tillage,  is  worn  out,  it  needed  some  new  and  fertilizing 
agent  or  influence  to  save  it  from  hopeless  sterility.  That  influence 
came  with  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  which  not  only  brought  the 
divine  teachings  of  JESUS,  and  the  inspired  writings  of  His  apostles, 
but  the  sublime  productions  of  Hebrew  bards  and  prophets  to  the 
knowledge  of  mankind.  New  views  of  men  and  of  life,  and  a  new  or- 
ganization of  society  were  to  spring  from  the  power  of  love  divinely 
revealed.  "  In  this  great  central  point  of  history,"  to  use  again  the 
words  of  Schlegel,  "stood  two  powers  opposed  to  each  other.  On  one 
hand  we  behold  Tiberius,  Caligula,  and  Nero,  the  earthly  gods  and 


10  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

absolute  masters  of  the  world,  in  all  the  pomp  and  splendour  of  ancient 
paganism,  standing  as  it  were  on  the  very  summit  and  verge  of  the 
old  world,  now  tottering  to  its  ruin ;  and  on  the  other  hand  we  trace 
the  obscure  rise  of  an  almost  imperceptible  point  of  light,  from  which 
the  whole  modern  world  was  to  spring,  and  whose  further  progress 
and  full  development  through  all  succeeding  ages  constitute  the  true 
purport  of  modern  history."  It  was  an  era  for  which  the  world  had 
long  been  waiting  and  preparing.  During  the  domination  of  the 
Ptolemies,  the  Jewish  Scriptures  had  been  translated,  with  great  care, 
into  the  Greek  language,  and  the  Jews,  scattered  far  and  wide,  had 
talked  of  their  prophecies  to  their  heathen  neighbours,  until  some  of 
them  were  gradually  taken  up  by  them,  as  if  they  had  been  actually 
prophecies  of  their  own  oracles.1  Revealed  knowledge  was  no  longer 
to  be  confined,  shut  up  in  narrow  bounds.  The  same  great  provi- 
dential act,  which  breaks  its  bonds,  and  unlocks  its  prison  house, 
enlarges  its  commission,  confirms  its  credentials,  and  sends  it  forth  to 
conquer  and  regenerate  the  world. 

But  the  character  of  the  period  in  which  the  apostle  John  lived,  as 
shown  from  the  condition  of  the  Jewish  people  (his  own  nation),  and 
the  state  of  opinion  among  them,  as  influenced  by  the  inspired  writings 
in  their  possession,  and  their  expectation  of  a  Messiah,  have  a  still 
more  important  connection  with  his  life  and  the  productions  of  his 
pen. 

No  sooner  was  the  early  promise  given,  that  the  Seed  of  the  woman 
should  bruise  the  serpent's  head,  than  we  discern  a  tendency  in  sacred 
history  towards  the  great  end  indicated  in  that  promise ;  namely,  the 
manifestation  of  the  Son  of  man,  in  whom  and  through  whom  alone  the 
counsel  of  God  could  be  fulfilled.  To  preserve  the  knowledge  of  divine 
truth  among  men,  and  to  prevent  heathenism  from  becoming  universal, 
the  danger  of  which,  on  account  of  the  corruption  in  man,  was  im- 
minent, Abraham  was  called,  and  the  visible  church  instituted.  In 
the  promise  to  him — "  In  thee  shall  all  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed," 2 
— the  purpose  of  redemption  flames  out  with  the  brightness  of  the  sun, 

1  Virgil,  in  one  of  his  noblest  bursts  of  poetry,  drew  from  the  prophetic  visions  of 
Isaiah : — 

"  Ipsae  lacte  dorrram  referent  distenta  capellas 

Ubera  ;  nee  magnos  metuent  armenta  leones. 

Ipsa  tibi  blandos  fundent  cunabula  flores. 

Occidet  et  serpens,  et  fallax  herba  veneni 

Occidet."— Bucol,  Eel.  iv.,  21. 

There  was  a  very  general  expectation  in  the  world  that  some  personage,  who  was 
to  perform  a  great  work  for  humanity,  was  soon  to  be  manifested.  (Comp.  Isa.  xi. 
6-9 ;  xxxv.  9  ;  Ixv.  25.) 

2  Gen.  xii.  3. 


CONDITION    OF   THE    JEWS.  11 

which,  although  still  far  below  the  horizon,  begins  to  scatter  the  dark- 
ness of  the  night.  The  Messiah  is  now  to  be  found  in  the  seed  of 
Abraham.  This  is  a  decided  advance  on  the  idea  presented  in  the  first 
promise  respecting  the  Seed  of  the  woman.  The  believing  Israelites 
are  expressly  told  from  what  quarter  they  are  to  expect  deliverance  to 
arise ;  and  are  further  taught  that  the  promised  salvation  will  consist, 
not  merely  in  the  destruction  of  evil — the  bruising  of  the  serpent's 
head,  but  in  positive  blessings. 

Next  they  have  the  promised  salvation  in  the  words  of  the  dying 
Jacob.  No  longer  in  the  terms  merely  of  the  promise  made  to  Abraham, 
the  particular  line  of  Judah  is  designated,  and  we  have  the  first  distinct 
mention  of  a  personal  Messiah.  "The  sceptre  shall  not  depart  from 
Judah,  nor  a  lawgiver  from  between  his  feet,  until  Shiloh  come  ;  and 
unto  Him  shall  the  gathering  of  the  people  be."  l  At  length  Moses 
appears  as  a  deliverer  from  bondage  and  a  lawgiver,  and  in  him  the 
idea  of  a  personal  Messiah  becomes  even  more  distinct :  "  The  Lord 
thy  God  will  raise  up  unto  thee  a  prophet  from  the  midst  of  thee  of 
thy  brethren  like  unto  me  ;  unto  him  ye  shall  hearken."  • 

The  very  law  which  was  given  by  Moses  was  calculated  to  show 
man  his  need  of  redemption,  and  awaken  a  desire  to  obtain  it.  It 
showed  him  the  need  of  grace — grace  that  can  come  only  from  One 
who  is  able  to  sustain  the  honour  of  a  violated  law.  The  law  was 
his  schoolmaster  to  bring  him  to  Christ.  God  did  not  relax  His 
holy  demands.  The  curse  remained;  it  thundered  in  the  ear  of 
man,  "  Thou  shalt  surely  die,  unless  a  Deliverer  be  found."  It  kept 
pealing  and  echoing  along  the  ages  which  preceded  the  advent  of 
the  Redeemer,  in  louder  and  more  distinct  reverberations,  according 
as  they  cherished  a  knowledge  of  the  law ;  and  dying  comparatively 
away  as  that  law,  for  any  season,  was  lost  and  buried  out  of  sight.  It 
presented  the  idea  of  a  personal  Jehovah,  the  Creator  of  all  things, 
and  the  Governor  of  all,  as  an  Avenger  of  sin,  and  the  Rewarder  of 
all  them  that  diligently  seek  Him.  In  the  ceremonial  law  and  the 
worship  it  prescribed,  we  see,  moreover,  how  significant  and  typical 
of  Christ  it  was  in  all  its  parts.  The  spiritual  worshipper  could  not 
rest  in  these  things ;  he  would  have  found  them  in  themselves  empty 
ceremonies,  or  a  yoke  of  bondage.  They  pointed  him  to  a  future, 
better  service.  They  were  a  shadow  of  good  things  to  come.  In  the 
sacrifices  the  atoning  work  which  a  broken  law  demanded  was  por- 
trayed. The  victim,  a  lamb  without  blemish  and  without  spot,  repre- 
sented a  Saviour  so  holy  and  well-pleasing  to  God,  that  He  can  take 
away  the  sin  of  the  world.  The  whole  Jewish  economy,  in  its  priests, 

1  Gen.  xlix.  10. 

2  Deut.  xviii.  15 ;  Acts  iii.  22 ;  vii.  37. 


12  THE    LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

its  tabernacle  and  its  temple,  its  festivals  and  purifications,  was  but  a 
shadow  and  a  type  of  a  coming  One  unto  whom  the  gathering  of  the 
people  should  be,  and  in  whom  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  should  be 
blessed.  At  the  same  time,  the  early  promise  continued  to  blossom  out 
in  prophecies,  which  shed  beauty  and  fragrance  over  the  dreary  desert 
by  which  the  Church  was  making  her  steady  way  towards  the  promised 
land.  Their  history,  their  captivities,  their  deliverances  were  a  per- 
petual prophecy  to  the  Jews  of  their  deliverance  from  a  worse — a 
spiritual  bondage.  The  interpositions  of  God  to  deliver  them  from 
earthly  enemies  and  straits  prefigured  a  higher  work  to  be  done  in  the 
future. 

The  highest  splendour  of  the  history  of  the  old  covenant  appeared  in 
David,  when  the  promise  was  given  that  his  Seed  should  reign  for  ever, 
and  that  the  throne  of  his  kingdom  should  be  established  for  ever.1 
There  is  a  further  development  of  the  expectations  connected  with  the 
coming  of  Messiah.  The  quarter  whence  the  Star  that  should  come  out 
of  Jacob  was  to  arise  is  more  specifically  mentioned.  The  family  of 
David  is  singled  out  from  the  tribe  of  Judah,  and  made  the  bearer  of 
the  line  of  the  promise.  First,  the  revelation  was  in  the  most  general 
form, — the  Seed  or  Offspring  of  the  woman ;  next,  this  promised  Off- 
spring is  to  be  of  the  seed  of  Abraham.  Again,  the  boundaries  are 
narrowed,  and  we  see  the  Star  arising  out  of  Jacob,  and  Shiloh  coming 
out  of  Judah.  And,  lastly,  the  house  of  David  is  selected  out  of 
Judah,  and  Bethlehem,  the  city  of  David,  is  pointed  out  as  the  birth- 
place of  the  Saviour.  The  peaceful,  prosperous  reign  of  Solomon  was 
prophetic  of  the  reign  of  the  Prince  of  peace,  and  the  building  of  the 
temple  expressed,  in  its  perfection  and  reality,  the  conception  of  the 
Christian  Church.  Psalms  were  heard  in  the  temple  and  at  the 
hearthstones  of  the  people,  which  spoke  of  the  future  King.  The 
pious  Hebrews  were  always,  as  it  were,  in  the  attitude  of  expectation. 
There  was  a  gradual  advancement  from  the  first  ray  which  broke  on 
the  darkness  of  the  night,  to  the  clear  dawn,  which  foretokened  the 
going  forth  of  the  Bridegroom  out  of  His  chamber.  The  plan  of  salva- 
tion had  been  gradually  developed,  and  made  clearer  and  clearer,  as 
the  time  for  the  full  manifestation  of  its  Author  and  Finisher  drew 
near.  And,  while  this  was  going  on,  the  salvation  itself  was  imparted 
to  every  one  who  in  faith  built  on  the  foundation  laid  in  Zion,  according 
to  the  measure  of  truth  revealed  to  him.  Many  died  "  in  faith,  not 
having  received  the  promises  (or  the  things  promised),  but  having 
seen  them  afar  off,  and  were  persuaded  of  them,  and  embraced  them, 
and  confessed  that  they  were  strangers  and  pilgrims  on  the  earth."2 

1  2  Sam.  vii.  12,  13 ;  1  Kings  viii.  25 ;  Ps.  Ixxxix.  29. 

2  Heb.  xi.  13. 


GROWING   DAWN.  13 

We  have  a  long  catalogue  of  such  worthies.  It  was  in  the  growing 
light  of  a  dawn  like  this  that  such  men  as  John,  and  Andrew,  and 
Peter,  and  Philip,  and  Nathanael,  came  on  the  stage  of  life.  They  were 
neither  blind  nor  infatuated.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  that  when 
Jesus  was  pointed  out  to  them  by  him  whom  all  men  counted  as  a 
prophet,  as  the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world, 
they  followed  Him,  and  were  convinced  that  they  had  "  found  Him  of 
whom  Moses  in  the  law  and  the  prophets  did  write."1 

1  St.  John  i.  45. 


CHAPTER  II. 
EAELY  LIFE  AND  NATURAL  TRAITS  OF  ST.  JOHN. 

GEOGRAPHICAL  POSITION  AND  PHYSICAL  FEATURES  OF  THE  HOLY  LAND. — 
RUINS. — SACRED  ASSOCIATIONS. — NATIVES  OF  GALILEE. — BETHSAIDA. — 
CHILDISH  PASTIMES. — SEA  OF  GALILEE. — ZEBED^US. — HIS  EARLY  DE- 
MISE.— JEWISH  EDUCATION. — PROFANE  AND  SACRED  LITERATURE. — SCHOOLS 
IN  THE  POST-EXILE  PERIOD. — EDUCATION  OF  APOSTLES. — MODE  OF  IN- 
STRUCTION.— JOHN  AT  SCHOOL. OUTWARD  LIFE  OF  THE  BOY. — JUDAS 

THE      GAULONITE. SAMARITANS. PILGRIMAGES. — JERUSALEM. — SAUL     OF 

TARSUS  A  COEVAL  OF  JOHN. — THE  PASSOVER. — JOHN  YOUNGEST  OF  THE 
TWELVE. — WAS  HE  EVER  MARRIED? — MEANING  OF  BOANERGES. — STRONG 
ELEMENTS  IN  HIS  CHARACTER. — SUSCEPTIBILITY  TO  IMPRESSION. — COM- 
PARED WITH  AUGUSTINE  AND  LUTHER. — HIS  INTELLECTUAL  CHARACTER. 

THE  importance  of  Palestine,  the  principal  theatre  of  the  earlier  events 
now  to  be  narrated,  is  not  to  be  estimated  by  its  geographical  extent. 
Its  breadth,  from  the  Jordan  to  the  sea,  is  scarcely  at  any  point  more 
than  fifty  miles:  and  its  extreme  length,  from  Dan  to  Beersheba,  not 
far  from  one  hundred  and  eighty.  It  occupies  the  northern  portion  of 
the  high  mountain  tract  which  lies  between  the  great  plains  of  Assyria 
and  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean.  On  its  northern  frontier  rise  the 
ranges  of  Lebanon.  On  the  east,  the  vast  fissure  of  the  Jordan  valley 
and  the  desert  separated  it  from  the  empires  on  the  plains  of  Mesopo- 
tamia, and  the  cities  that  rose  on  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  so  well- 
known  in  ancient  history.  Another  great  desert  separated  it  on  the 
south  from  Egypt,  a  land  which  had  taken  the  lead  of  all  others  in  arts 
and  civilization.  On  the  west,  it  was  accessible  only  by  the  sea ;  but 
afforded  no  great  harbours  inviting  and  protecting  commercial  enter- 
prise. It  thus  stood  midway  between  the  two  seats  of  ancient  empire 
and  civilization.  And  when  at  last  the  West  began  to  rise  as  a  new 
power,  as  the  nearest  point  of  contact  between  the  two  worlds,  it 
became  the  scene  of  the  chief  conflicts  of  Rome  with  Asia.  It  has  thus 
been  the  chosen  field  where  the  gauge  of  battle  has  been  thrown  down 
between  powerful  armies,  from  the  days  of  the  Assyrian  kings  to  those 
of  Mehemet  Ali. 

The  wide  and  fertile  plains  of  Sharon1  and  Shechem  and  Esdraelon, 

1  The  scattered  trees  are  apparently  the  remnants  of  a  great  forest  which  once 
existed  here.  The  Septuagint  translates  "  Sharon,"  in  Isa.  Ixv.  10,  by  the  word 
5/>u/i6s,  forest,  with  reference  probably  to  the  feature  by  which  it  was  then  dis- 


RUINS   AND   DESOLATION.  15 

like  its  everlasting  hills,  remain  as  of  old ;  but  the  land  is  far  from, 
what  it  once  was  in  populousness  and  fertility.  It  is  literally  a  land  of 
ruins.  "  There  is  no  country,"  it  has  been  said,  "  in  which  they  are  so 
numerous,  none  in  which  they  bear  so  large  a  proportion  to  the  villages 
and  towns  still  in  existence.  In  Judaea  it  is  hardly  an  exaggeration  to 
say  that,  whilst  for  miles  and  miles  there  is  no  appearance  of  present 
life  or  habitation,  except  the  occasional  goatherd  on  the  hill-side,  or 
gathering  of  women  at  the  wells,  there  is  yet  hardly  a  hill-top  of  the 
many  within  sight  which  is  not  covered  by  the  vestiges  of  some  fortress 
or  city  of  former  ages."1  These  ruins  tell  us  that  we  must  not  judge 
of  the  resources  of  the  ancient  land  by  its  present  depressed  and  deso- 
late state.  How  different  must  have  been  the  aspect  of  the  country, 
when  every  hill  was  crowned  with  a  flourishing  town  or  village,  or 
was  a  terraced  garden  to  its  summit!  The  neglect  of  the  terraces 
which  supported  the  soil  on  the  steep  declivities,  the  destruction  of  the 
forests,  I  and  the  gradual  cessation  of  rains,  consequent  on  this  loss  of 
vegetation,  has  subjected  the  country  to  the  evils  of  sterility  and 
depopulation.  Once  herds  and  flocks  grazed  upon  a  thousand  hills ; 
fields  of  wheat  and  barley,  and  plantations  of  figs  and  pomegranates, 
citron  and  palm,  variegated  the  landscape,  and  afforded  food,  or  the 
promise  of  food,  to  the  crowded  population.  In  comparison  with  the 
deserts  which  surrounded  it,  even  to  a  people  emigrating  from  the 
banks  of  the  Nile,  it  might  well  have  been  denominated  a  "  land  flow- 
ing with  milk  and  honey." 

And  what  sacred  historical  associations,  running  back  to  the  time 
of  world-renowned  patriarchs,  and  inspired  seers,  cluster  around  every 
part  of  the  land !  This  was  the  goodly  land  Moses  had  viewed  from 
the  top  of  Pisgah,  where  the  tribes,  after  their  long  wandering  in 
the  wilderness,  under  the  leadership  of  Joshua,  obtained  possession, 
and  found  rest.  Here  were  Hebron,  and  Bethel,  and  Sychar,  and 
Bethlehem,  and  Nazareth.  Here  was  Jerusalem,  its  mountain- site, 
the  towers  and  gates  and  battlements  of  its  lofty  and  complete  walls, 

tinguished.  It  was  famed  for  the  excellence  of  its  pasture  land ;  and  within  its 
borders  Herod  the  Great  built  Caasarea,  which  became  the  residence  of  the  governors 
of  Judaea. 

At  Shechem  "  there  is  no  wilderness,  no  wild  thickets,  yet  there  is  always  ver- 
dure ;  not  of  the  oak,  the  terebinth,  and  the  carob-tree,  but  of  the  olive-grove 
— so  soft  in  colour,  so  picturesque  in  form,  that  for  its  sake  we  can  well  dispense 
with  all  other  wood."  (Van  de  Velde,  i.,  386.) 

Esdraelon  runs  from  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  on  the  west  to  the  valley 
of  the  Jordan  on  the  east.  It  reaches,  where  it  is  widest,  about  twelve  miles  from 
the  hills  of  Samaria  to  the  mountains  of  northern  Palestine. 

1  Stanley's  Sinai  and  Palestine,  p.  117.    London,  1862. 

2  Dr.  Olin's  Travels  in  the  East,  ii.,  p.  428     Dr.  Eobinson's  Bib.  Ees.,  i.,  pp. 
507,  553  ;  iii.,  p.  595. 


16  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OP    ST.  JOHN. 

giving  to  it,  to  all  beholders,  a  commanding  and  picturesque  appear- 
ance. It  had  been  the  scene  of  great  wonders  for  centuries  before 
the  birth  of  John ;  and  it  was  destined  to  be  of  greater  still.  Here 
holy  prophets  had  delivered  their  messages,  and  David  and  Solomon 
had  reigned.  Here  Isaiah  touched  his  harp.  Here  was  the  first 
temple  in  which  the  Shechinah  had  once  dwelt ;  and  the  second  the 
glory  of  which  was  to  be  greater  than  the  former,  by  the  presence 
of  Him  who  was  "the  brightness  of  the  Father's  glory,  and  the 
express  image  of  His  person." 

John,  the  apostle,  was  a  native  of  Galilee,  in  the  north  of  Palestine, 
probably  the  town  of  Bethsaida,  on  the  western  shore  of  the  lake, 
not  far  from  Capernaum  and  Chorazin.  Such  have  been  the  devasta- 
tions in  that  region,  that  it  is  now  difficult  to  fix  upon  the  exact  site  of 
these  cities.1  The  green  slopes  of  Tabor  and  the  snowy  summits  of 
Hermon  were  in  full  sight  of  his  childhood's  home.  Galilee  includes 
the  ancient  territories  of  Issachar,  Zebulun,  Asher,  and  Naphtali, 
the  whole  northern  section  of  the  country.  Josephus  describes  the  soil 
as  rich  and  well  cultivated.  Fruit  and  forest  trees  of  every  kind 
abounded ;  numerous  large  cities  and  populous  villages,  amounting  in 
all  to  no  less  than  two  hundred  and  forty,  thickly  studded  the  whole 
face  of  the  country.  The  inhabitants  were  industrious  and  warlike, 
being  trained  to  arms  from  their  infancy.2  The  northern  border  ran 
from  Dan  westward  across  the  mountain-ridge,  till  it  touched  the 
territory  of  the  Phoenicians.  The  upper  Jordan,  from  the  fountain  of 
Dan,  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  and  the  river  Jordan,  formed  the  eastern 
border.  The  southern  ran  from  the  Jordan  by  Scythopolis,  up  through 
the  valley  of  Jezreel  to  Gilboa,  and  along  the  base  of  the  hills  of 
Samaria  and  Carmel.  And  on  the  west  it  was  bounded,  from  the 
foot  of  Carmel,  by  the  territory  of  Ptolemais. 

It  was  divided  into  two  sections,  "  Upper  "  and  "  Lower  "  Galilee. 

1  Kobinson's  Kes.,  ii.,  pp.  404,  405 ;   iii.,  pp.  347-361.     There  were  two  towns 
named  Bethsaida,  one  near  the  northern  extremity  of  the  lake,  on  the  eastern 
shore ;  the  other  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Chorazin  and  Capernaum,  on  the  west 
side  of   the  lake.      The   former  is  mentioned   Luke  ix.  10,  near  which  the  five 
thousand  were  fed ;  the  ruins  of  it  are  still  to  be  seen  at  the  distance  of  little  more 
than  four  miles  beyond  where  the  Jordan  enters  into  the  lake.     The  latter  was  the 
city  of  Andrew  and  Peter ;  and  like  Chorazin  and  Capernaum,  has  been  so  com- 
pletely effaced,  that  its  precise  locality  is  a  matter  of  some  doubt. 

2  Jewish  Wars,  iii.,  3  (2,3);    Life,  45.     The  "  soil  is  universally  rich,"  is    the 
language  of  the  Jewish  historian,  "and  fruitful,  and  full  of  plantations  of  trees 
of    all   sorts,  insomuch  that   it   invites  the  most  slothful   to  take   pains  in  its 
cultivation  by  its  fruitfulness ;  accordingly,  it  is  all  cultivated  by  its  inhabitants, 
and  no  part  of  it  lies  idle.      Moreover,  the  cities  ic  iaere  very  thick ;    and  the 
very  many  villages  are  everywhere  so  full  of  people,  uiiat  the  very  least  of  them 
contain  above  fifteen  thousand  inhabitants." 


IIIS    BIRTH-PLACE.  17 

"  Lower  Galilee  included  the  great  plain  of  Esdraelon,  with  its  off- 
shoots, which  ran  down  to  the  Jordan  and  the  Lake  of  Tiberias,  and 
the  whole  of  the  hill  country  adjoining  it  to  the  north,  to  the  foot 
of  the  mountain  range.  It  was  one  of  the  richest  and  most  beautiful 
sections  of  Palestine.  With  the  exception  of  a  few  rocky  summits 
round  Nazareth,  the  hills  are  all  wooded,  and  sink  down  in  graceful 
slopes  to  broad  winding  vales  of  the  richest  green.  The  outlines  are 
varied,  the  colours  soft,  and  the  whole  landscape  is  characterized  by 
that  picturesque  luxuriance  which  one  sees  in  parts  of  Tuscany. 
Upper  Galilee  embraced  the  whole  mountain  range  lying  between 
the  Upper  Jordan  and  Phoenicia.  It  is  the  region  to  which  the  name 
oC  '  Galilee  of  the  Gentiles  '  was  given  in  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments.1 The  summit  of  the  range  is  tableland,  part  of  which  is 
beautifully  wooded  with  dwarf-oak,  intermingled  with  tangled  shrub- 
beries of  hawthorn  and  arbutus.  The  whole  is  varied  by  fertile  upland 
plains,  green  forest  glades,  and  wild  picturesque  glens,  breaking  down 
to  the  east  and  the  west."  2 

His  parents  were  Zebedgeus  and  Salome.3  Their  home,  if  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  name  Bethsaida  (house  of  fish)  can  be  trusted,  was 
close  to  the  water's  edge.  A  short  distance  to  the  north  of  the 
supposed  site  of  Capernaum  is  a  beautiful  little  bay,  with  a  broad 
margin  of  pearly  sand.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  this  is 
the  site  of  Bethsaida.4  No  site  along  the  whole  shore  seems  so  ad- 
mirably adapted  for  a  fishing  town.  Here  is  a  bay  sheltered  by 
hills  behind  and  projecting  cliffs  on  each  side ;  and  a  smooth  sandy 
beach,  such  as  fishermen  delight  to  ground  their  boats  upon.  On  this 
beach  the  child  John  doubtless  might  often  have  been  seen  gathering 
the  pebbles  and  shells,  playing  in  the  sand,  or  launching  on  some  little 
pool,  his  mimic  boat.  As  he  grew,  he  would  pass  many  a  happy  day 
sailing  on  the  lake,  or  engaged  in  taking  the  fish  with  which  it 

1  Isa.  ix.  1  ;  Matt.  iv.  15. 

2  Eev.  Professor  J.  L.  Porter's  Handbook,  pp.  427,  440. 

3  On  a  comparison   of  Matt.  xx.  20,  xxvii.  56,  Mark  xv.  40,   xvi.  1,   Salome 
must  be  regarded  as  the  wife  of  Zebedseus.     Most  of  the  ancient  traditions  make 
her  the  daughter  of  Joseph  by  a  previous  marriage  ;  -i.e.,  the  step-daughter  of  Mary 
the  mother  of  the  Lord.  But  according  to  "Wieseler  (Studien  und  Kritiken,  1840,  iii.), 
she  was  the  sister  of  Mary,  making  John  a  cousin  of  Jesus.     Cave,  in  his  Anti- 
quitates  Apostolicce,    refers  to  the  opinion  of  Jerome  as  to  the   no"bility  of  the 
family  from  which  St.  John  sprang,  giving  this  as  the  reason  why  he  was  known 
to  the  high-priest,  and  could  introduce  St.  Peter  into  his  judgment-hall :  "  Propter 
generis  nobilitatem  notus  erat  Pontifici  et  Judseorum  insidias  non  timebat."    Ho 
also  refers  to  Nicephorus,  who  gives  as  a  reason  why  St.  John  was  known  to  the 
high-priest,  that  he  had  lately  sold  the  estate  left  by  his  father  in  Galilee  to  the 
high-priest.    (Cave,  ii.,  p.  260.) 

4  Eobinson's  Bib.  Res.,  iii.,  p.  358.    Prof.  J.  L.  Porter,  in  Kitto's  Bib.  Cyc.,  Art. 
Bethsaida. 


1  8  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS  .  OP    ST.  JOHN. 

abounded.  Although  boats  and  fishermen  are  now  rarely  seen  on  its 
surface  or  along  its  shores,  it  was  once  covered  with  them,  and 
populous  towns  dotted  the  whole  region  around.  It  is  about  fourteen 
miles  long,  and  at  the  widest  point  nine  miles  broad.  As  seen  from 
any  of  the  surrounding  heights,  it  is  described  as  a  fine  sheet  of 
water, — "a  burnished  mirror  set  in  a  framework  of  rounded  hills 
and  rugged  mountains,  which  rise  and  roll  backward  and  upward  to 
where  hoary  Hermon  hangs  the  picture  against  the  blue  vault  of 
heaven."  To  see  it  from  one  of  its  overhanging  promontories,  as 
the  day  breaks  along  the  eastern  mountains,  and,  one  by  one,  the  stars 
begin  to  fade,  and  every  moment  the  scene  shifts,  and  changes  from 
bright  to  brighter,  from  glory  to  glory,  the  eastern  cliffs  throwing 
down  their  dark  shadows  on  the  bosom  of  the  lake;  and  when  the 
note  of  the  lark  rings  out  suddenly,  silvery  and  joyous,  as  if  from  the 
very  midst  of  the  fading  stars,  and  bird  after  bird,  in  rapid  succession, 
commence  their  early  matins,  until  the  whole  vault  of  heaven  seems 
vocal  with  the  invisible  choristers, — it  may  doubtless  well  be  pro- 
nounced "the  very  perfection  of  this  style  of  beauty."1  In  the 
crowded  population  of  Galilee  in  the  days  of  John,  where,  in  a  country 
scarcely  thirty  miles  square,  Josephus  could  raise  in  a  few  days  one 
hundred  thousand  volunteers  for  the  war  against  the  Romans,  this 
inland  sea  was  the  centre  of  a  busy  life,  which  must  greatly  have 
enhanced  its  attractiveness  and  interest.  Nowhere  else  in  the  whole 
land,  except  in  Jerusalem,  could  Messiah  have  found  such  a  sphere  for 

1  Thomson's  Land  and  Book,  ii.,  pp.  71-78.  Even  the  humorist,  Mark  Twain 
(Mr.  Clemens),  who  writes  so  contemptuously  of  certain  descriptions  of  the  Sea 
of  Galilee,  which  he  quotes,  seems  himself  to  have  been  most  deeply  impressed 
with  the  scene  at  night:  "Night  is  the  time  to  see  Galilee.  Gennesaret,  under 
these  lustrous  stars,  has  nothing  repulsive  about  it.  Gennesaret,  with  the  glitter- 
ing reflections  of  the  constellations  flecking  its  surface,  almost  makes  me  regret 
that  I  ever  saw  the  rude  glare  of  the  day  upon  it.  Its  history  and  its  associations 
are  its  chiefest  charm  in  any  eyes,  and  the  spells  they  weave  are  feeble  in  the 
searching  light  of  the  sun.  Then,  we  scarcely  feel  the  fetters.  Our  thoughts 
wander  constantly  to  the  practical  concerns  of  life,  and  refuse  to  dwell  upon  things 
that  seem  vague  and  unreal.  But  when  the  day  is  done,  even  the  most  unim- 
pressible  must  yield  to  the  dreamy  influences  of  this  tranquil  starlight.  The  old 
traditions  of  the  place  steal  upon  his  memory  and  haunt  his  reveries,  and  then  his 
fancy  clothes  all  sights  and  sounds  with  the  supernatural.  In  the  lapping  of  the 
waves  upon  the  beach  he  hears  the  dip  of  ghostly  oars  ;  in  the  secret  noises  of 
the  night  he  hears  spirit-voices  ;  in  the  soft  sweep  of  the  breeze,  the  rush  of  in- 
visible wings.  Phantom  ships  are  on  the  sea,  the  dead  of  twenty  centuries  come 
forth  from  the  tombs,  and  in  the  dirges  of  the  night-wind  the  songs  of  old  forgotten 
ages  find  utterance  again.  In  the  starlight,  Galilee  has  no  boundaries  but  the 
broad  compass  of  the  heavens,  and  is  a  theatre  meet  for  great  events  ;  meet  for 
the  birth  of  a  religion  able  to  save  the  world ;  and  meet  for  the  stately  Figure  ap- 
pointed to  stand  upon  its  stage,  and  proclaim  its  high  decrees "  (Excursion  to 
Europe  and  the  Holy  Land  in  the  steamer  Quaker  City,  pp.  512,  513). 


ZEBEDZEUS   AND    SALOME.  19 

His  teaching  and  His  miracles,  where  He  could  draw  around  Him  the 
multitudes  "from  Galilee,  from  Decapolis,  from  Judaea,  and  from 
beyond  Jordan  " ;  and  where  "  His  fame  "  could  spread  "  throughout 
all  Syria."  The  traveller  obtains  the  first  glimpse  of  its  waters,  in 
their  deep  basin,  six  hundred  feet  lower  than  the  Mediterranean, 
from  the  top  of  Tabor ;  and  they  lie  open  wide  before  him  from  the 
Mount  of  Beatitudes.1  Christ's  residence  and  ministry  on  its  shores, 
and  its  being  the  native  region  of  so  considerable  a  number  of  His 
apostles,  have  rendered  it  the  most  sacred  sheet  of  water  on  the 
face  of  the  globe. 

That  John's  father  was  a  man  of  worldly  substance  is  evident  from  the 
fact,  to  which  the  sacred  record  refers,  that  he  was  assisted  by  hired 
servants2  in  the  management  of  his  boats  and  the  mending  of  his 
nets.  The  mention  of  his  ownership  of  a  house,  and  of  the  fact  of 
his  being  personally  known  to  the  high-priest  Caiaphas,  all  go  to 
establish  the  fact  of  the  comfortable  circumstances,  and  respectable 
position  of  the  family  to  which  he  belonged.  His  mother  was  an 
ardent  and  pious  woman,  who  ministered  to  the  wants  of  Jesus,  and 
united  in  the  purchase  of  the  spices  for  his  body,  and,  as  appears  from 
the  few  incidents  related  of  her,  was  evidently  possessed  of  more  than 
ordinary  energy  of  character.  The  family,  although  usually  classed 
with  fishermen,3  according  to  ecclesiastical  tradition  was  of  noble  origin. 
Possibly,  Zebedaeus  and  his  sons  pursued  fishing  more  for  pleasure  and 
recreation,  than  as  a  means  of  livelihood.  It  was,  however,  a  Hebrew 
custom  for  the  sons  of  the  most  reputable  families  to  be  trained  up  to 
some  useful  calling  or  trade.  So  little  mention  being  made  of  the  father, 
the  presumption  is  not  unnatural  that  he  died  not  long  after  his 
sons  James  and  John  became  the  followers  of  Jesus.  This  maybe  the 
reason  why  the  mother  is  so  much  more  prominent  in  the  gospel  history, 
and  may  serve  to  explain  the  somewhat  anomalous  designation,  "  the 
mother  of  Zebedee's  children ;  "  that  is,  of  the  deceased  Zebedee. 4 

1  Stanley's  Sinai  and  Palestine,  pp.  319,  320. 

2  Mark  i.  20,  /j.eroi  rCsv  [ucrOwT&v,  "  with  the  hired  servants."  Meyer,  after  Grotius, 
says  it  was  only  proof  Zebedaeus  was  not  without  means,  that  his  sons  could  leave 
him  with  servants  to  complete  the  work  in  which  they  were  engaged.     To,  t'Sta,  in 
John  xix.  27,  means  one's  own  things,  i.e. ,  possessions,  property.     Spec,  one's  own 
house  or  home.     See  Kobinson's  Lex.  of  N.  T. ;  Xen.  Hist.,  x.,  5.     If  John  owned  a 
house  in  Jerusalem,  that  fact  may  have  brought  him  into  contact  with  the  high- 
priest,  or  afforded  an  opportunity  of  his  continuing  an  acquaintance  which  we 
suppose,  as  will  be  seen  on  a  subsequent  page,  may  have  begun  in  his  early  youth. 
John  xviii.  15. 

3  The  Eev.   Francis  Trench,   in  his  Life    and  Character  of    St.   John,  quotes 
Chrysostom  as  speaking  of  St.  John  as  sprung  from  a  poor  fisherman:  Trar/ws  aX«?ws 
7reV?7Tos  (Horn.  I.  in  Johan.). 

4  Matt.  xx.  20 ;  xxvii.  56.     Some  have  supposed  that  Zebedee  became  a  follower 


20  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF   ST.  JOHN. 

There  were  two  other  young  men  of  Bethsaida,  besides  John's  brother 
James,  who  became  connected  with  the  family  of  our  Lord,  Andrew 
and  Peter.  With  them,  no  doubt,  James  and  John  had  often 
been  associated  in  the  pastimes,  studies,  and  occupations  of  youth. 
His  advantages  of  education  and  literary  culture  we  cannot  presume 
were,  like  those  of  Saul  of  Tarsus,  of  the  highest  order  ;  on  the  con- 
trary we  have  reason  to  believe  that  his  knowledge  of  letters,  pro- 
perly speaking,  was  comparatively  limited.  He  had  doubtless  been 
carefully  instructed  by  his  parents  in  the  rudiments  of  the  Mosaic  law, 
in  the  leading  events  of  the  marvellous  history  of  his  nation,  and  in  the 
sublime  and  animating  predictions  of  the  prophets.  It  was  a  proverb 
among  the  Jews,  that  he  was  the  vilest  of  men  who  suffered  his  son  to 
grow  up  without  being  educated  in  the  principles  of  religion.  The 
songs  of  David,  such  psalms  as  the  twenty-third,  the  forty-second,  the 
forty-fifth,  the  hundred  and  third,  and  the  strains  of  Isaiah,  Habakkuk, 
and  Malachi,  were  not  without  their  appropriate  influence  in  forming 
the  character  and  stimulating  the  intellectual  life  of  the  youthful  John. 
Whilst  in  Galilee  he  would  be  exposed  to  a  contact  with  Gentiles, 
which  he  would  have  escaped  at  Jerusalem,  and  his  dialect1  and  pro- 
nunciation would  be  affected  in  a  marked  degree  from  this  contact ; 
he  was  at  the  same  time  removed  from  the  Pharisaic  influence  that 
would  have  encompassed  and  permeated  him  with  its  spirit  of  narrow 
bigotry,  had  his  home  been  in  Judaea  ;  and  he  had  a  mother  who,  there 
is  reason  to  believe,  made  it  her  first  care  to  nourish  in  his  heart  the 
Messianic  hopes  that  filled  her  own. 

Without  undervaluing  the  profane  literature  of  the  ancient  world,  as 
it  had  assumed  form  at  the  period  of  the  advent  of  Christ  (and  it  had 
just  then  reached  its  highest  development2),  when  we  compare  it,  for 
all  the  most  valued  purposes  of  education,  with  sacred  literature,  as  it 
existed  at  the  same  epoch,  the  advantage  is  unspeakably  on  the  side  of 
the  latter.  The  former  may  have  the  advantage  of  securing  certain  re- 
finements in  aesthetical  culture,  in  poetry,  rhetoric,  and  criticism,  and  in 
philosophical  speculation ;  but  have  truth  and  purity  no  indispensable 
connection  with  right  education  ?  Do  we  not  know  that  some  of  the 
most  elegant  specimens  of  ancient  classical  literature  are  so  polluted 
with  licence  and  passion  as  to  render  them  wholly  unfit  for  use  in 

of  Christ.  But  Lampe  in  his  Prolegomena  on  John  says,  "  Sunt  qui  suspicantur, 
cum  nusquam  historia  ejus  porro  mentionem  faciat,  brevi  post  vocationem  filiorum 
suorum  eum  diem  obiisse." 

1  Matt.  xxvi.  73,    ij  \a\id  aov  SrjXov  ae  iroiel,     "  Thy  dialect  maketh  thee  known." 
The  dialect  of  the  Galileans  was  defective  in  the  pronunciation  of  the  Hebrew  gut- 
turals.   In  the  Talmud  are  accounts  of  amusing  misunderstandings  in  consequence 
of  these  and  other  defects. 

2  See  Chap.  I. 


HIS   EDUCATION.  21 

schools  for  training  and  developing  the  faculties  of  the  young  ?  Does 
that  deserve  the  name  of  education,  which,  without  even  the  postulates 
of  truth,  can  only  train  the  faculties  to  skill  in  the  dialectics  of 
error,  and,  by  the  very  process,  undermine  the  foundations  of  sound 
morality  ?  John,  although  surrounded  with  Gentiles,  was  not  brought 
up  where  Greek  ideas  had  gained  the  ascendancy.  It  doubtless  could 
be  said  of  him,  as  it  was  subsequently  said  of  Timotheus,  whose  father 
was  a  Greek,  that  from  a  child  he  had  known  the  Scriptures.1 

In  the  post-exile  period  of  the  history  of  the  Jews,  there  began  a  new 
era  in  the  education,  and  the  provisions  for  the  education,  of  their 
youth.2  As  the  people  during  their  captivity  had  in  a  measure  lost 
their  vernacular,  or  had  greatly  corrupted  it  by  the  use  of  foreign 
terms,  Ezra,  the  scribe  and  restorer  of  the  law,  found  it  necessary 
on  their  return,  to  gather  around  him  those  who  were  skilled  in 
the  law,  and  with  their  assistance  to  train  a  number  of  public 
teachers.  The  more  accomplished  of  these  collected  large  numbers  of 
young  men  at  Jerusalem,  whom  they  instructed  in  all  things  pertain- 
ing to  the  law  and  the  prophets ;  others  were  sent  into  the  provincial 
towns  to  gather  scholars  and  form  synagogues.  The  schools  continued 
to  increase  in  importance,  and  the  intercourse  of  the  Jews  with  the 
Babylonians,  the  Persians,  and  the  Greeks,  extended  their  notions  of 
education,  and  led  them  to  study  foreign  languages  and  literature. 
Simon  b.  Shetach,  B.C.  80,  has  the  credit  of  having  introduced 
superior  schools  in  every  large  provincial  town,  and  ordained  that  all 
the  youth  from  the  age  of  sixteen  should  attend  them, — the  first  example 
of  Government  education.  The  estimate  which  had  come  to  be  placed 
on  juvenile  education  may  be  learned  from  such  declarations  as  the  fol- 
lowing, found  in  the  Talmud  :  "  The  world  is  preserved  by  the  breath 
of  the  children  in  the  schools."  "  A  town  in  which  there  is  no  school 
must  perish." 

The  provisions  thus  made  for  general  or  national  education  were 
those  in  which  the  apostles  of  Christ  shared,  and  are  therefore  of  the 
greatest  importance  and  interest  to  Christians.  The  kind  of  schools 
which  existed  at  this  period,  the  mode  of  instruction,  and  what  was 
considered  to  constitute  the  proper  education  of  a  respectable  Jew,  may 
be  learned  from  the  Talmud  and  the  Midrashim.  A  school  or  teacher 
was  required  for  every  twenty-five  children.  Up  to  the  age  of  six  years 
they  must  be  instructed  by  their  parents,  and  then  sent  to  school.  The 

1  Actsxvi.l;  2  Tim.  iii.  15. 

*  Neh.  viii.  1-8;  Ecclus.  ii.  9-11 ;  Mishna,  Aboth,  i.  1.  "  Scrolls  were  given  to 
children  upon  which  were  written  passages  of  Scripture,  such  as  Shema  (i.e.,  Deut. 
vi.  4),  or  the  Hallel  (i.e.,  Ps.  cxiv.-cxviii.,  cxxxvi.) ;  the  history  of  the  creation  to  the 
deluge  (Gen.  i.-viii.),  or  Lev.i.  18  (comp.  Jer.  Megilla,  iii.  1;  Gittin,  60,  a  ;  Soferim, 
v.  9)."— Ch.  D.  Ginsburg. 


22  THE    LIFE   AND   WKITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

parents  never  ceased  to  watch  that  their  children  should  be  in  the 
school  at  the  proper  age,  and  in  the  class  punctually  from  day  to  day. 
The  greatest  care  was  taken  that  the  books,  or  scrolls,  from  which  in- 
struction was  given,  should  be  correctly  written,  and  that  the  lessons 
should  not  be  above  the  capacities  of  the  scholars.  Besides  the  elemen- 
tary schools,  designed  for  popular  education,  there  were  superior  col- 
leges, at  first  confined  to  Jerusalem,  under  the  management  of  the  "  doc- 
tors," as  they  are  called  in  the  New  Testament,  and  members  of  the 
Sanhedrin.1  Gradually  these  academies  were  spread  over  all  the  coun- 
tries where  Jews  resided.  Alexandria,  Sepphoris,  Tiberias,  and  places 
too  numerous  to  mention,  became  distinguished  for  these  seats  of 
learning.  The  method  of  instruction  was  chiefly  catechetical,  or  the 
Socratic.  All  manner  of  subjects  were  treated, — theology,  philosophy, 
jurisprudence,  astronomy,  astrology,  medicine,  botany,  arithmetic, 
geography,  architecture.  "  The  Talmud,  which  has  preserved  the 
topics  discussed  in  the  colleges,  is  an  encyclopaedia  of  all  the  sciences 
of  that  time,  and  shows  that,  in  many  departments  of  science,  these 
Jewish  teachers  have  anticipated  modern  discoveries."  • 

In  one  of  the  schools  connected  with  the  synagogue  at  Bethsaida, 
John  was,  no  doubt,  found  at  the  required  age — six  years.  His  parents, 
we  cannot  presume,  would  be  less  zealous  than  other  Jewish  parents 
that  their  son  should  be  found  promptly  and  punctually  in  his  place. 
They  had  already  taught  him  to  read  the  Scriptures,  for  Jewish  chil- 
dren were  required  to  be  able  to  study  the  Scriptures  at  the  age  of  five 
years.  We  see  the  young  lad  John  going,  led  by  his  brother  or 
mother,  to  the  synagogue  school.  To  this  day,  in  the  East,  in  the 
schools  connected  with  the  synagogues,  pupils  may  be  seen  seated  on 
the  ground  with  their  tutor,  conning  or  reciting  their  tasks.  If 
there  were  schools  of  a  higher  grade  already  in  Galilee,  as  we 
have  reason  to  believe  there  were  (as  we  know  there  were  at  a 
period  shortly  later),3  the  worldly  estate  of  Zebeda3us  was  such  as 
to  enable  him  to  put  their  advantages  within  the  reach  of  his 
sons.  Or  he  may  have  sent  them  to  sit  at  the  feet  of  masters  at  Jeru- 
salem ;  and  in  this  way  John  may  have  attracted  the  attention  of  and 

1  Luke  ii.  41.     The  Talmud  has  preserved  the  names  of  the  presidents  and  vice- 
presidents    of  the  colleges,   with  those  of  the  most  distinguished  masters  and 
scholars  under  each.  Hillel  the  Great,  in  whose  family  the  presidency  became  hered- 
itary for  fifteen  generations,  was  president  from  B.C.  30  to  A.D.  10.     He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Simon,  who,  in  the  year  30,  was  succeeded  by  Gamaliel,  the  teacher  of  the 
apostle  Paul. 

2  See  the  excellent  article,  "  Education,"  by  Christian  D.  Ginsburg,  in  Kitto's 
Cyclopaedia. 

3  Tiberias,  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  was  famous  during  several  centuries 
for  its  rabbinical  academy.    Lightfoot's  Horse  Heb.,  p.  140,  seq. 


OUTWAED    LIFE    OP    THE    BOY.  23 

become  known  to  the  high- priest  Caiaphas.  Those  winning  traits  that 
so  commended  him  to  the  great  TEACHER  and  the  great  HIGH- PRIEST 
may  have  secured  for  him  the  regards  of  his  earthly  teacher,  and, 
through  him,  of  the  head  of  the  Jewish  Church,  under  whose  auspices 
and  supervision  these  higher  schools  at  Jerusalem  would  naturally 
fall.  Gifted  with  an  intellect  of  great  clearness  and  penetration, 
patient  and  conscientious  in  his  duties,  the  high-priest  may  have  fixed 
on  him  as  one  of  the  probable  future  lights  of  the  Sanhedrin.  But 
however  all  this  may  have  been,  he  heard  the  law  read,  and  listened  to 
discussions  and  discourses  from  Sabbath  to  Sabbath  in  the  synagogue, 
and  to  the  conversation  of  pious  friends  and  neighbours  in  the  house 
of  his  parents.  The  Jewish  child  was  encouraged  to  listen,  even  in  the 
presence  of  the  most  venerable  doctors,  by  the  privilege  he  was  per- 
mitted to  exercise  of  asking  and  answering  questions.  Nurtured  thus 
in  the  pathetic  histories  of  his  people,  his  heart  was  filled  with  a  love 
for  his  brethren,  his  kindred  according  to  the  flesh,  which  fitted  him 
in  an  eminent  degree  to  become,  as  he  afterwards  was,  up  to  the  period 
of  their  dispersion,  the  apostle  of  the  Hebrews. 

The  outward  life  of  the  boy  could  not  fail  at  the  same  time  to  be 
deeply  affected  by  the  political  agitations  which  were  felt  throughout 
the  whole  of  Palestine.  He  was  of  sufficient  age  when  that  remark- 
able man,  Judas  the  Galilean,  or  rather  Gaulonite  (called  the  Galilean, 
probably,  because  Galilee  was  the  chief  theatre  of  his  action),  began  to 
preach  revolt  against  the  Roman  government.  The  principal  themes 
of  his  eloquence  were  the  sovereignty  of  God  over  his  people,  the  un- 
lawfulness of  paying  tribute,  and  the  degradation  of  subjection  to  a 
foreign  yoke.  He  had  for  his  confederate  Sadoc,  a  Pharisee.  Multi- 
tudes gathered  around  them,  who  were  full  of  burning  zeal  for  their 
country  and  their  law.  The  watchword  of  their  party  was,  "  We  have 
110  lord  and  master  but  God."  The  country  was  for  a  time  entirely 
given  over  to  the  control  of  the  warlike  throng  whom  Judas  had 
gathered  by  his  fiery  eloquence.  But  the  might  of  Borne  was  irresist- 
ible ;  Judas  perished,  and  his  followers  were  dispersed.1 

Like  other  Jews,  John  grew  up  with  bitter  prejudices  against  the 
Samaritans.  From  the  period  of  the  establishment  of  a  separate  wor- 
ship and  temple,  the  breach  between  the  Jews  and  Samaritans  had 
been  irretrievable.  The  very  name  of  either  people  became  a  term  of 
reproach  to  the  other.  Whilst  the  same  Quirinus  (Cyrenius)  under 
whom  the  revolt  of  Judas  the  Gaulonite  took  place,  was  prefect  and 
Coponius  was  procurator  of  Judaea,  as  the  Jews  were  celebrating  the 
passover,  a  body  of  Samaritans  made  their  way  at  midnight  into  the 

1  Milman,  Hist,  of  Jews,  ii.,  pp.  124,  125 ;  Jos.  Ant.,  xviii.,  1  (1). 


24  THE    LIFE    AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

temple,  and  scattered  through  the  cloisters  dead  men's  bones.1  This 
greatly  intensified  the  hatred  of  the  Jews  for  the  Samaritans.  It  is 
not  improbable  that  this  act  of  desecration  occurred  not  far  from  the 
time  of  John's  first  visit  to  Jerusalem  to  attend  the  passover. 

At  an  early  period  of  life  commenced  the  periodical  pilgrimages  of 
every  male  of  the  Jewish  nation  to  Jerusalem.2  At  twelve  or  thirteen 
years  of  age,  therefore,  must  John  have  made  his  first  acquaintance 
with  the  holy  city.  With  his  parents  and  brother  (who  was  pro- 
bably the  elder  of  the  two),  he  might  be  seen  joining  some  one  of  the 
caravans  that  went  up  statedly  to  Jerusalem,  on  the  occasion  of  the 
great  festivals  of  the  nation.  There  must  have  been  something  grand 
and  imposing  in  the  movement  of  these  throngs,  chiefly  composed 
of  men  and  boys,  in  discharge  of  a  sacred  duty.  To  avoid  the 
annoyances  incident  to  a  journey  through  Samaria,  and  the  positive 
danger  of  collision  with  an  unfriendly  people,  the  usual  route  was 
through  the  valley  of  the  Jordan,  for  a  considerable  distance  lying  be- 
yond, or  on  the  eastern  side  of,  the  river ;  crossing  it  at  or  near  Beth- 
shean  or  Scythopolis,  and  passing  on  through  the  confederation  of  the 
ten  Greek  cities,  known  as  Decapolis ;  and  continuing  till  the  ter- 
ritory of  Samaria  had  been  left  behind,  and  the  ford  of  Bethabara, 
nearly  opposite  Jericho,  was  reached. 

How  grandly  must  have  sounded  the  psalms  the  people  sang  on  these 
pilgrimages,  designated  in  our  version  as  "  Songs  of  Degrees  "  (cxx.— 
cxxxiv.),  as  they  echoed  along  the  valleys,  and  through  the  gorges,  and 
up  the  mountain  sides.3  What  must  have  been  the  thoughts  and  emo- 
tions of  John  when,  going  up  from  Jericho  through  Bethany,  and 
reaching  the  top  of  Olivet,  his  eyes  for  the  first  time  rested  on  the  holy 
city.  Jerusalem  was  at  this  period  surrounded  by  walls  in  those  parts 
where  it  was  not  fortified  by  abrupt  and  impassable  ravines.  These 
walls  did  not  stand  one  within  another  in  narrower  circles  running 
round  the  whole  city,  but  each  defended  one  of  the  quarters  into  which 
the  city  was  divided.  They  were  guarded  by  towers  built  of  solid 

1  Jos.  Ant.,  xviii.  2  (2).  «  Deut.  xvi.  16. 

3  No  one  can  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  peculiar  appropriateness  of  these  psalms 
for  the  use  of  pilgrims  gathering  from  the  most  distant  quarters.  The  first  is 
heard  as  in  Mesech,  or  in  the  tents  of  Kedar,  races  far  to  the  north  or  the  south,  in 
lamentation  of  the  situation.  In  the  next,  the  worshipper  lifts  up  his  eyes  to  the 
hills,  and,  looking  forward  to  the  journey,  sings,  "  The  sun  shall  not  smite  thee  by 
day  nor  the  moon  by  night."  In  the  next  there  is  an  exhilaration  as  if  the  journey 
had  been  commenced,  or  was  on  the  point  of  being  commenced.  "  I  was  glad,'* 
etc.  And  so  on ;  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  assign  each  psalm  to  some  particular 
stage  of  the  journey.  The  hundred  and  thirtieth,  "  Out  of  the  depths,"  De  pro- 
fundis,  comes  like  a  wail  of  agony  from  the  wearied,  footsore  travellers,  out  of 
some  deep  defile,  wij;h  the  craggy  height  above  them.  But  at  last  they  see  Jeru- 
salem ;  they  bless  the  Lord,  with  all  the  servants  of  the  Lord  in  the  temple. 


HIS    FIRST   VISIT    TO    JERUSALEM.  25 

masonry.  There  were  over  seventy  of  these,  running  to  a  great  height, 
with  broad  flights  of  steps  leading  up  to  them.  The  whole  height  of 
one  of  them  (Hippicus)  was  about  140  feet,  and  it  was  nearly  forty- 
four  feet  square,  with  battlements  and  pinnacles.  Another  (Phasaelis) 
was  a  solid  square  of  seventy  feet.  It  was  surrounded  by  a  portico, 
and  defended  by  breastworks  and  bulwarks ;  and  above  the  portico 
was  another  tower,  richly  ornamented  with  battlements  and  pinnacles, 
so  that  its  whole  height  was  nearly  170  feet.  It  looked  from  the  dis- 
tance like  the  tall  Pharos  of  Alexandria.  These  lofty  towers,  built  of 
white  marble,  the  blocks  so  fitted  that  they  seemed  hewn  out  of  the 
solid  quarry,  stood  upon  the  old  wall  that  ran  along  the  brow  of  Zion.1 
He  goes  to  the  temple,  and  becomes  familiar  with  its  stately  worship, 
with  the  sacrifice,  the  incense,  the  altar,  and  the  priestly  robes.2 
Nothing  escapes  the  notice  of  his  eye,  or  the  attention  of  his  active 
mind-  He  was  receiving  impressions  and  drinking  in  influences  that 
would  affect  his  character  in  all  his  future  life. 

At  the  very  time  John  first  visited  Jerusalem,  there  was  probably 
one  there  with  whom  he  was  destined  in  the  future  to  be  associated, 
and  who  was  to  become  the  most  eminent  in  the  apostleship.  He  was 
a  youth  not  far  from  his  own  age,  born  neither  in  Galilee  nor  in 
Juda3a,  but  in  a  Gentile  city,  Tarsus  of  Cilicia,  yet  of  the  purest 
Hebrew  descent.  He  had  enjoyed  the  best  advantages  of  his  native 
city,  famous  for  its  schools ;  but  had  now  come  to  Jerusalem  to  sit  at 
the  feet  of  Gamaliel,  in  the  great  rabbinical  school  of  which  he  was  the 
head.  The  school  had  been  established  by  Hillel,  the  grandfather  of 
Gamaliel.  The  fame  of  Gamaliel  is  celebrated  in  the  Talmud.  He 
was  revered  for  his  wisdom  and  eminent  for  his  learning,  and  candour 
seems  to  have  been  a  marked  feature  of  his  character.  He  was  called 
the  "  Beauty  of  the  Law."  But  his  celebrity  was  to  rest  chiefly  on 
the  distinction  in  the  world  to  which  the  remarkable  youth  would  rise, 
who,  as  we  have  said,  was  probably  sitting  as  a  pupil  at  his  feet3  when 
John  was  present,  under  the  requisition  of  the  law,  for  the  first  time,  at 
the  celebration  of  the  passover.  It  is  by  no  means  impossible  that  these 
two  youths,  who  were  not  very  far  from  being,  if  they  were  not  quite 
exactly,  coevals,4  may  have  met  for  the  first  time  in  the  temple  at  the 

1  Josephus.     Milman  thinks  his  authority  for  the  topography  and  description -of 
the  walls  unquestionable.     Hist,  of  Jews,  ii.,  p.  335. 

2  Kev.  Prof.  E.  H.  Plumptre,  Art.  John,  Smith's  Bib.  Diet. 

3  Acts  xxii.  3.     The  words,  irapa  TOI>S  TroSas  Fa/iaXt^X,  are  to  be  connected  with 
TreTTcuSeu/uVos,  taught,  rather  than  with  cti/aTefya^/xeVos,  as  they  refer  to  scholars 
receiving  instruction  from  the  teacher  in  his  cathedra,  while  they  are  seated  on  the 
floor  or  low  benches  at  his  feet. 

4  Dean  Howson,  in  the  Life  and  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  says,  "  He  must  have  been 
born  in  the  later  years  of  Herod,  or  the  earlier  of  his  son  Archelaus  "  (i.,  p.  44,  C. 
Scribner's  ed.,  New  York,  1854). 


26  THE    LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

celebration  of  this  great  feast,  although  as  entire  strangers,  or  knowing 
and  recognising  each  other  only  as  equally  ardent  worshippers  at  the 
altar  of  their  fathers.  On  the  day  known  as  the  Preparation  of  the 
Passover  (14th  of  Nisan),  the  representatives  of  the  several  com- 
panies of  the  people,  who  had  joined  together  as  offerers  of  the  same 
lamb,  presented  themselves  at  the  temple,  and  having  been  divided 
into  separate  bands  for  convenience  of  numbers,  were  successively 
ushered  in  with  the  paschal  sacrifices,  until  the  court  of  the  temple  was 
filled.  The  doors  were  then  closed,  and  as  the  trumpets  were  sounded, 
the  priests  in  their  official  robes  immediately  placed  themselves  in  two 
rows,  holding  bowls  of  gold  and  silver  in  which  the  blood  of  the  victims 
might  be  caught  and  borne  to  the  altar.1  In  some  such  scene  as  this, 
the  two  young  Israelites,  one  from  the  plain  of  Cilicia  and  the  shadow 
of  Mount  Taurus,  the  other  from  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  may  have  met. 
They  could  appreciate  it,  and  were  capable  of  receiving  impressions 
from  it,  as  very  few  youths  of  their  age  could, — impressions  that 
never  could  be  lost,  and  which  may  be  recognised  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews  of  the  one,  showing  how  the  divinely-instituted  types 
and  symbols  of  the  Old  Testament  economy  have  their  actual  and 
complete  accomplishment  in  Christ ;  and  in  the  rich  liturgical  imagery 
of  the  Apocalypse  of  the  other. 

Little  did  the  parents  of  John  think  of  the  honour  and  distinction  that 
awaited  him.  They  anticipated  nothing  higher  for  their  active-spirited 
boy,  guiding  his  little  boat  over  the  smooth,  glassy  sea,  or  fearlessly 
and  dexterously  bringing  it  to  the  shore,  when  some  sudden  gust  came 
down  from  the  adjacent  hills,  than  that  he  should  succeed  to  the  hum- 
ble estate,  or  a  share  of  it,  and  the  position  of  his  father.  They  little 
thought  that  his  history  would  be  studied,  and  his  character  admired, 
long  after  the  names  of  most  of  the  great  ones  whose  renown  then 
filled  the  earth  should  have  passed  into  oblivion. 

The  opinion  that  John  was  the  youngest  of  the  twelve  disciples  rests 
not  merely  on  tradition,  but  is  supported  by  the  historical  evidence 
that  he  lived  to  see  the  close  of  the  first  century,  and  was  himself 
nearly  or  quite  one  hundred  years  old.  If  John  reached  this  great 
age,  the  argument  of  Jerome  that  he  must  have  been  a.  mere  boy  when 
he  was  called  is  shown  to  be  of  little  force.  The  idea  of  his  perpetual 
youth  has  no  better  foundation,  or  rather  is  an  idle  story  of  the  monks, 
to  which  they  gave  currency  on  finding  in  Constantinople  an  antique 
agate  intaglio,  representing  a  young  man  with  a  cornucopia,  and  an  eagle 
and  figure  of  Victory  placing  a  crown  on  his  head.  They  maintained 
it  was  a  portrait  of  John,  sent  to  their  hands  by  miraculous  preserva- 
tion. It  proved  to  be  a  representation  of  the  apotheosis  of  Ger- 
1  Mishna  Pesachim,  v.  5-10. 


MEANING    OF    THE    TITLE    BOANERGES.  27 

manicus.  Whether  he  was  ever  married,  as  it  is  evident  Peter  was,1 
we  have  no  testimony  one  way  or  the  other  in  the  New  Testament,  If 
he  had  been,  however,  the  presumption  clearly  is,  that  the  fact  would 
in  some  way  have  been  referred  to  in  the  narratives  of  the  evangelists, 
or  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  He  had  a  home,  presided  over,  it  may 
be,  by  Salome  his  mother,  to  which  he  could  take  that  "  blessed  among 
women,"  the  mother  of  his  Lord,  who  had  been  committed  by  a  dying 
injunction  to  his  filial  care.2  Salome  was  ready,  there  can  be  no  doubt, 
from  the  singular  devotion  manifested  for  the  Son,  and  from  the 
relationship  and  friendship  which  had  existed  between  the  two  women, 
to  unite  with  her  son  in  the  faithful  execution  of  the  solemn  charge. 
The  earliest  testimony  on  the  question  whether  John  had  a  wife,  is 
that  of  Tertullian  in  the  third  century,  who  numbers  John  among 
those  who  had  restrained  themselves  from  matrimony  for  the  sake  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.  He  was  an  ascetic,  and  sought  to  use  the 
example  of  John  as  favouring  those  monastic  views  and  practices 
which  had  begun  to  find  place  in  the  Christian  Church.  Other  fathers 
have  made  great  use  of  the  case  of  John  as  an  instance  of  celibacy  in 
accordance  with  monastic  principles.  St.  Augustine  alludes  frequently 
to  the  circumstance,  insisting  particularly  that  he  was  engaged  to  be 
married  when  he  was  called,  but  gave  up  his  betrothal  to  follow 
Jesus.3  But  all  this  rests  on  mere  tradition. 

What  may  be  regarded  as  the  proper  significance  of  that  peculiar 
title,  "Boanerges,  sons  of  thunder,"  given  to  him  and  his  brother 
James  ?  The  composition  and  derivation  of  the  word  Boanerges  has 
been  the  occasion  of  much  discussion  and  difference  of  opinion.  It 
occurs  only  in  Mark.  It  "  is  no  doubt  a  double  modification  (Greek 
and  Aramaic)  of  some  Hebrew  phrase  which  cannot  now  be  certainly 
identified."4  It  is  well  we  have  Mark's  translation  of  it.  It  is  natural 
to  look  for  its  significance,  as  applied  to  the  sons  of  Zebedaeus,  in  some- 

1  Matt.  viii.  14. 

2  John  xix.  25-27. 

3  Lampe  says,  "  Constans  satis  traditio  Patrum  ilium  coelibem  testatur  et  fuisse, 
cum  vocaretur,  et  permansisse.     An  vero  satis  antiqua  sit,  de  eo  disceptatur  " 
(Proleg.  in  Joan.,  I.,  c.  i.,  §  13).     And,  in  the  end  of  the  same  section,  he  ridicules 
the  idea  that  St.  John  was  the  bridegroom  at  the  marriage  in  Cana  of  Galilee,  and, 
at  his  vocation  to  be  a  follower  of  Christ,  immediately  afterwards  left  his  wife : 
"  Tertullianus  de  Monogamia,  c.  xvii.     Joannem  Christi  spadonem  vocat,  quod 
nempe   se  continuisset    a    conjugio  propter  regnum   coelorum.     Favere   quoque 
videtur  huie  opinioni,  quodhuic  Discipulo  potissimum  matrem  suam  Dominus  com- 
mendaverit.    Istud  tamen  libentes  concedimus,  nulla  probabilitate  arridere,  quod 
addunt  alii  Joannem  in  nuptiis  Canas,  quibus  Jesus  intererat,  sponsum  fuisse, 
ejusque  vocationem  intercessisse  ne  maritus   fieret,  et  qua  illius   furfuris  sunt 
alia."     See  also  Cave's  Antiq.  Apostol.,  Life  of  St.  John,  §  10. 

4  Alexander  on  Mark  iii.  17 ;  and  Poole's  Synopsis. 


28  THE    LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

thing  earnest,  bold,  and  fervid  in  their  manner  of  address  or  their 
mode  of  action,  revealing  a  corresponding  type  of  character.  In  their 
ordinary  speech,  they  used  strong  expressions,  and  there  was  a  direct- 
ness which  brought  the  matter  right  home  to  those  whom  they 
addressed.  When  they  preached,  they  addressed  the  consciences  of 
men,  they  wielded  the  terrors  of  the  law.  They  remembered  the 
tones  and  warning  manner  of  that  preacher  from  the  wilderness  whose 
voice  first  arrested  them  in  their  youthful  career,  kindled  the  latent 
enthusiasm  of  their  souls,  and  gave  form  and  meaning  and  the 
expectation  of  a  speedy  accomplishment  to  the  predictions  of  a  coming 
Deliverer.  Like  him  they  cried  aloud,  and  shouted  their  warnings  in 
the  ears  of  men.  They  could  not  have  been  dull,  prosaic,  and  spiritless 
in  their  address. l 

lYom  his  honoured  position  at  the  Last  Supper  and  his  peculiar 
designation  as  "the  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved,"2  and  because,  in  his 
epistles  and  gospel  he  dwells  so  much  on  love,3  John  has  been  fre- 
quently described  as  being  all  mildness,  distinguished  by  a  feminine 
softness,  and  destitute  of  strong,  positive  elements.  But  to  imagine 
that  he  was  a  merely  contemplative  being,  tame,  and  of  a  weak  sen- 
timental nature,  is  unquestionably  to  do  serious  injustice  to  his 
character.  His  natural  traits  appear  rather  to  have  been  those  of 
decision  and  energy;  traits  which  it  is  not  the  province  of  divine 
grace  to  eradicate,  but  to  regenerate  and  sanctify.  He  possessed  a 
temperament,  indeed,  which,  if  it  had  not  been  subjected  to  the  in- 
fluence of  this  grace,  might  have  made  him  fiery  and  fierce,  if  nob 
cruel  and  unforgiving.  The  love  which  dwelt  in  him  in  so  eminent 
a  degree  might  easily,  under  adverse  influences,  have  been  changed 
into  its  opposite,  violent  hatred.  Ifr  was  the  strong  manly  qualities  of 
John  which  so  commended  him  to  the  regards  of  the  Redeemer  of 

1  "  Omnino  videtur  mihi  Christus  in  hujus  nominis  impositione  respexisse  ad 
vaticinium  Agu.,  ii.  7,  ubi  v^rbum  illud  comparet  unde  nomen  hoc  derivatum  est " 
(Beza  in  Poll.  Syn.  ad  loc.).     Theophylact  says,  uioi)s  S£  ftpovrijs  ovo^afit.  TOUS  TOV 
ZefBeSaiov    ws   /j-eyaXoK^puKa.^    KO!    6ed\oyt.K(>)TaTov$,  great    preachers    and    eminent 
divines.    (Comm.  in  Marc.)    Trench  says,  they  "  were  surnamed  '  sons  of  thunder,' 
as  resembling  thunder  in  spiritual  power  and  effect.    So  he  who  resembled  abstract 
perdition  is  entitled  the  '  son  of  perdition,'  and  he  who  resembled  abstract  consola- 
tion is  called  in  Scripture  (Acts  iv.  36)  'the  son  of  consolation'"  (Life  of  St.  John, 
p.  23).     See  Lampe's  Proleg.,  §§  8,  9,  10,  11,  12,  13,  14,  15. 

2  John  xiii.  23  ;  xix.  26 ;  xx.  2  ;  xxi.  7  and  20. 

3  Trench  well  remarks  on  the  periphrasis  "  the  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved,"  as 
applied  to  himself  by  St.  John,  that  he  "refers  to  himself  as  one  passive  and  not 
as  one  active.      He  speaks  of  another  who  loves  him,  and  not  of  himself  as  loving 
another  ;  "  and  cites  Lampe  in  his  Comment,  on  John,  "  Apostolus  non  se  Jesum 
amasse,  sed  a  Jesu  amatum  esse  pronunciat,  amorem  divinum  absque  ullo  merito 
suum  amorem  praevenisse  secundum  1  Joh.  iv.  19  agnoscens." 


HIS    SUSCEPTIBILITY   OF   CHAEACTER.  29 

the  world,  and  led  to  his  selection  for  the  great  share  he  had  in  the 
work  of  laying  the  foundation  of  the  Christian  faith,  amid  opposition, 
confusion,  and  blood.  In  him  the  searching  eye  of  the  Redeemer 
recognised  faculties  which,  diverted  from  the  low  ends  of  worldly 
ambition  and  contest,  might  be  exalted  to  the  great  works  of  divine 
benevolence.  He  could  see  how  the  impulses  which,  misdirected  or 
left  uncontrolled,  must  tend  only  to  evil,  "could  be  made  the  guide 
of  truth  and  love,"  and  in  his  "  fiery  ardour,  the  disguised  germ  of  a 
holy  zeal,"  which  under  His  careful  tuition  "  would  become  a  tree  of 
life,  bringing  forth  fruits  of  good  for  nations."  It  was  in  perfect 
keeping  with  these  characteristics,  which  Josephus  ascribes  to  the 
whole  Galilean  race,  "  ardent  and  fierce,"  that  when  the  inhabitants 
of  a  certain  Samaritan  village  refused  to  show  Jesus  hospitality,  the 
two  brothers,  James  and  John,  the  more  ready  doubtless  to  take' 
fire  on  account  of  the  old  national  grudge,  desired  permission  to  call 
down  fire  from  heaven  for  their  destruction.1  It  was  a  delicate  sus- 
ceptibility to  impression  which  led  John  to  respond  so  readily, — and 
sometimes  in  a  way  not  so  amiable, — to  the  events  and  disclosures 
which  were  ever  multiplying  around  him,  as  he  followed  his  Master. 
To  refuse  hospitality  to  such  a  being  as  he  knew  his  Master  to  be, 
seemed  to  him  unpardonable.  This  same  quick  susceptibility  appears 
on  another  occasion,  when  he  came  and  told  the  Saviour  that  he  had 
rebuked  a  man  for  casting  out  devils,  because  he  did  not  follow  Christ 
in  his  company.2 

The  character  of  John,  even  when  more  matured,  showed  itself 
strongly  coloured  by  the  same  constitutional  peculiarity.  "  Had  this 
native  quality  been  left  to  itself,  unchecked  by  parental  influence, 
and  unchastened  by  the  grace  of  God,  that  John  whose  soul,  pouring 
itself  forth  in  inspired  writings,  one  delights  to  observe  so  yielding  to 
the  slightest  touch  of  heavenly  truth,  would  have  been  known,  if  at 
all,  only  as  the  dissolute  prey  of  contending  passions.  His  suscepti- 
bility would  have  been  like  the  perturbations'  of  angry  waters,  which 

1  Luke  ix.  54.    Attempts  have  been  made  to  show  that  the  apostles  were  fault- 
less, or  to  excuse  the  faults  and  errors  which  are  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament. 
Even  Peter's  denial,  and  Judas's  betrayal  have  had  their  apologists.    And  this  act 
of  James  aud  John  has  had  some  to  excuse  it.     Ambrose  of  Milan,  in  commenting 
in  loco,  maintains  that  their  zeal  was  only  such  as  would,  have  met  approval  in  the 
Old  Testament  times.     He  says,  "  Nee  discipuli  peccant,  qui  legem  sequuntur," 
and  then  refers  to  the  punishment  of  Hophni  and  Phinehas,  and  to  the  incident  in 
the  history  of  Elijah  to  which  James  and  John  referred.     Even  Calvin  says  of 
these  two  disciples,  that  "  they  desired  vengeance  not  for  themselves,  but  for 
Christ ;    and  were  not  led  into  error  by  any  fault,  but  merely  by  ignorance  of  the 
spirit  of  the  gospel,  and  of  Christ." 

2  Mark  ix.  38  ;  Luke  ix.  49. 


30  THE    LIFE    AND   WETTINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

surrender  themselves  to  every  coming  gust.  But,  in  the  confirmed 
Christian  and  apostle,  this  trait  appears  like  the  rapid  and  transparent 
picturing  of  fast  succeeding  beauties  and  glories  of  the  opening 
heavens  on  the  bosom  of  some  stream,  charmed  by  the  presence  of  an 
unseen  presiding  spirit.  If  this  responsive  picturing  in  his  soul  was 
sometimes  overcast  with  a  shade  from  untimely  objects,  such  a  dis- 
figuring shadow  was  but  transient."  x  He  used  no  softened,  honeyed 
terms,  when  he  described  or  rebuked  sin  and  evil-doers.  With  him  a 
false  professor  was  "a  liar;"  a  hater  of  his  brother,  "a  murderer;"  a 
denier  of  fundamental  doctrines,  "antichrist."  ? 

Such  were  the  strong  vigorous  traits  in  the  character  of  this  apostle. 
There  was  nothing  half-way  or  vacillating  in  him.  Just  those  qualities 
which,  if  he  had  remained  on  the  sea  of  Galilee,  would  have  made  him 
the  noble,  brave,  and  generous  seaman,  and,  without  restraint,  might 
have  made  him  a  man  of  enmities  and  altercations,  the  leader  of  a 
forlorn  hope  in  a  struggle  against  oppression  and  tyranny, — by  the 
grace  of  God  made  him  a  disciple  whom  Jesus  took  to  His  heart  with 
a  peculiar  affection  and  confidence.  It  needed  but  the  merest  spark  to 
kindle  his  resentment  into  a  fiery  glow.  The  most  eminent  servants 
of  Christ  have  been  those  who  were  once,  like  Saul  of  Tarsus,  or  like 
Bunyan  and  John  Newton,  most  determined  foes ;  or,  who  would,  like 
Calvin  and  Brainerd,  have  become  so  but  for  the  grace  of  God. 
Were  we  to  seek  the  apostle's  counterpart  among  men  of  the  post- 
apostolic  times,  we  should  find  it  sooner  in  Augustine,  or  even  Luther, 
than  in  such  men  as  the  gentle  Melanchthon.  Regenerating  grace  does 
not  impart  (John's  call  to  be  an  apostle  did  not  in  his  case)  any 
new  natural  faculties.  It  takes  men  just  as  it  finds  them,  and  makes 
of  an  impetuous,  headstrong  Peter,  a  courageous,  firm,  persevering 
apostle ;  it  takes  the  iron  will  of  a  Luther,  and  bends  it  to  that  of  the 
divine  mind,  and  infuses  into  it  a  principle  of  new  obedience,  without 
impairing  its  inherent  firmness  and  strength.  It  converted  the  native 
prowess  of  John's  character  into  a  burning  zeal  for  his  Master,  which 
shone  out  with  lustre  when  he  went,  in  advanced  age,  to  preach  the 
gospel  to  a  gang  of  robbers,  in  the  fastnesses  of  the  mountains,  where 
they  were  lying  in  wait  for  blood.  It  converted  his  ambition  to  be 
first3  among  his  associates,  into  a  holy  emulation  to  promote  the  glory 
of  God,  and  serve  his  brethren  and  his  fellow-men,  by  performing  just 
those  services  which  become  the  servant  of  all,  and  the  least  of  all. 
He  at  length  learned  the  import,  not  only  of  those  solemn  words, 
"  Ye  shall  drink  indeed  of  my  cup,  and  be  baptized  with  the  baptism 

1  Kev.  E.  E.  Salisbury,  in  Bib.  Eepos.,  iv.,  p.  299. 

2  See  I.  and  II.  Epist.  passim. 
s  Matt.  xx.  20-28. 


HIS    INTELLECTUAL   CHARACTER.  31 

I  am  baptized  with,"  bat  of  that  other  saying,  which  could  never  be 
forgotten,  nor  fail  to  fill  him  with  abasement :  "  He  who  will  be  great 
among  you,  let  him  be  your  servant."  His  aspiration  then  was  not 
after  a  throne,  at  the  right  hand  of  his  Lord,  in  a  temporal  kingdom, 
but  after  increase  of  grace,  and  fellowship  with  the  Father  and  with 
His  Son,  Jesus  Christ.  To  see  Christ  in  His  glory,  and  be  like  Him, 
would  fill  up  the  measure  of  His  longing,  and  accomplish  His  most 
fondly  cherished  hopes. 

As  to  his  intellectual  character,  there  can  be  no  doubt  he  was  a  man 
of  a  very  high  order  of  abilities.  The  skill  he  at  length  acquired  in 
the  use  of  the  Greek,  as  shown  in  the  gospel  from  his  pen,  is  evidence 
of  one  given  to  constant  self-improvement,  and  who  had  acquired  the 
habits  of  an  accurate  scholar.  The  education  he  received  was  prob- 
ably of  a  higher  order  than  has  been  commonly  supposed,  as  was 
that  of  the  apostles  generally.  He  possessed  a  mind  which,  as  it 
developed  and  ripened,  was  capable  of  taking  the  most  profound  view 
of  things.  He  gave  full  evidence  in  his  writings  of  having  penetrated 
deeply  into  the  groundwork  of  the  Christian  scheme.  "  He  manifestly 
strove  to  attain  a  glimpse  of  divine  things,  in  their  primitive  reality, — <• 
to  view  them  not  in  their  mode  and  manner,  as  topics  of  logical  dis- 
crimination, addressing  themselves  to  the  understanding,  but  in  their 
essence,  as  recognisable  by  the  enlightened  and  sanctified  reason.  If 
the  Spirit  of  inspiration  assisted  him  to  surpass  the  ordinary  apostolic 
conception  of  divine  truth,  and  to  take  deeper  views  of  the  gospel, 
these  must  be  considered  as  at  once  tokens  of  special  divine  favour 
and  manifestations  of  constitutional  profoundness  of  mind."  1 

1  Bib.  Kepos.,  iv.,  p.  309. 


CHAPTER  III. 
t       ST.  JOHN  AS  A  DISCIPLE  OF  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST. 

PREPARATION     FOR    THE     ADVENT. — THE     PROPHET    OF    THE    PREPARATION. — 
HIS    IMPORTANT    INFLUENCE    OVER   JOHN    THE    EVANGELIST. — HIS    BIRTH. — 

PREDICTIONS      CONCERNING     HIM. HIS     PROTOTYPE. MIRACLES      AT     HIS 

BIRTH. — HIS     HOLINESS. — INFLUENCE     OF     SUCH     A     CHARACTER     ON     ONE 
CONSTITUTED    LIKE    JOHN    THE     EVANGELIST. — HIS    LIFE    IN    THE    WILDER- 

^NESS. ST.    JOHN     A     DISCIPLE     THERE. — MATTER     OF     HIS     PREACHING. — 

MANNER.  —  IMPRESSION     ON      HIS     YOUNG      GALILEAN      DISCIPLES.  —  JESUS 

POINTED     OUT     TO     THEM     AS   'THE     LAMB     OF    GOD. JOHN     AND     ANDREW 

FOLLOW   JESUS. 

ALL  really  important  events  and  characters  in  history  find  in  the 
Messiah  that  central  point  around  which  they  revolve  in  their  several 
places,  as  parts  of  one  great  whole.  He  is  the  "  desire  of  all  nations."  ] 
"  All  things  were  created  by  Him  and  for  Him." '  In  the  fulness  of 
time,  when  the  process  of  preparation  was,  completed,  and  the  world's 
need  of  redemption  was  fully  disclosed,  He  appeared.  "  In  Judaism, 
the  true  religion  was  prepared  for  man ;  in  heathenism,  man  was  pre- 
pared for  the  true  religion."  A  circumcised  Idumean,  or  Gentile,  was 
the  king  of  the  Jews,  when  He  to  whom  that  dignity  of  right  be- 
longed, was  born  in  Bethlehem  of  Juda3a. 

But  notwithstanding  this  long  preparation,  issuing  in  so  remarkable 
a  condition  of  things  in  the  heathen  and  Jewish  world,3  there  was 
a  special  preparation  for  the  introduction  of  the  ministry  of  Christ. 
John  the  Baptist  was  its  prophet  and  herald.  It  was  not  for  mere 
dramatic  effect  that  this  man  appeared  on  the  stage,  but  for  a  great 
practical  purpose.  He  came  to  arouse  the  people  from  their  spiritual 
stupor,  and  call  them  to  repentance,  and  thus  prepare  the  way  of  the 
Lord.  The  long  night  of  four  thousand  years  had  been  brightened 
with  many  stars  and  constellations,  but  he  was  "  the  prophet  of  the 
Highest,"4  to  betoken  that  darkness  was  about  to  pass  away,  and  all 
those  stars  to  melt  into  the  brightness  of  a  glorious  morning. 

But  it  was  the  relation  he  sustained  to  St.  John,  and  the  influence 
he  must  have  exerted  upon  him,  and  several  of  his  fellow-apostles, 

1  Hag.  ii  7.  3  See  Chap.  I. 

2  Col.  i.  16.  4  Luke  i.  76. 


35  Lonettude  East    from    Greenwich  36 


E.Sandoz    del. 


Stanford  fj&oi^IE stab. 


XewYcak; 


&  C9 


JOHN    THE    BAPTIST.  33 

giving  them  the  first  intimation  of  the  advent  of  Christ,  and  distinctly 
pointing  Him  out  personally  to  them,  which  demands  some  special 
notice  of  this  remarkable  man,  in  this  place. 

The  people,  sunk  in  unbelief,  apathy,  and  spiritual  declension,  needed 
a  strong  voice  to  arrest  their  attention,  awaken  them  to  reflection,  and 
arouse  them  to  an  attitude  of  expectation.  Other  and  older  prophets 
had  foretold  the  coming  of  Christ  at  a  distant  future  age  ;  but  he 
came  with  the  thrilling  joyful  message,  that  that  Saviour  was  immedi- 
ately to  appear,  and  to  make  ready  a  people  prepared  for  the  Lord. 
He  comes  up  from  the  recesses  and  labyrinths  of  the  desert  to 
the  banks  of  the  Jordan,1  with  his  rough  garment  of  camel's  hair, 
and  a  leathern  girdle  about  his  loins.  His  countenance  bears  no 
aspect  of  effeminacy  or  sensual  indulgence.  It  is  hard  and 
bronzed  with  his  rugged  abstinent  mode  of  life.  With  the  flashing 
eye  and  the  spirit-stirring  voice  of  a  theopneust,  such  as  the  world 
had  not  seen  for  several  centuries,  he  takes  his  position  on  the  banks 
of  the  stream,  and  cries  to  all  who  come  within  the  sound  of  his 
voice,  "Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord;"  "Repent  ye,  for  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  is  at  hand."  Never  was  there  a  more  impressive 
scene ;  never  a  more  commanding  speaker ;  never  one  before  him  who 
had  a  more  important  message.  His  mission  was  to  arouse  the  people, 
to  rebuke  their  sins,  and  baptize  with  water,  as  a  symbol  of  that  pre- 
paratory repentance,  which  was  to  open  the  way  for  the  coming 
Messiah. 

John  the  Baptist  was  of  sacerdotal  family.  His  father,  Zacharias, 
being  an  aged  priest,  was  serving  in  his  regular  course  in  the  temple, 
when  the  revelation  or  promise  was  made2  to  him  of  the  birth  of  this 
son.  His  mother  was  a  cousin  of  Mary,  the  mother  of  our  Lord. 
He  was  born,  according  to  the  conjecture  of  E eland,3  which  there 
is  reason  to  believe  is  well  founded,  at  Jutah,  or  Juttah,  a  city  of 

1  "The  wilderness  of  Judaea,"  the  rocky  district  in  the  eastern  portion  of  the 
territory  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  was  the  place  where  from  early  youth  he  had  lived 
in  retirement.  But  the  place  where  he  exercised  his  ministry  is  given  by  St. 
John  as  "in  Bethabara  beyond  Jordan  "  (chap.  i.  28) ;  i.e.,  it  was  on  the  eastern 
bank,  and  probably  near  Succoth,  the  more  northern  ford.  He  was  nearer  Galilee 
than  Judaea,  which  accounts  for  his  having  Galileans  among  his  disciples.  The 
place  was  only  about  a  day's  travel  from  Nazareth.  The  place  where  John  de- 
scribes him  as  baptizing,  subsequently,  was  in"  ^Enon  near  to  Salim."  The  most 
ancient  MSS.  the  Sinaitic,  Vatican,  and  Alexandrine,  and  others,  for  "  Bethabara'' 
read  "  Bethany."  Origeu  states  that  in  his  time  this  reading  prevailed,  but  he 
changed  it  to  the  more  ancient  name  Bethabara,  that  it  might  not  be  confounded 
with  the  place  where  Lazarus  and  his  sisters  lived.  But  the  evangelist  made  the 
distinction  by  saying  iv  'Brjdaitiy  Trtpav  rod  'lopdavov,  in  Bethany  beyond  the  Jordan. 

*  Luke  i.  5-13. 

3  Palest.,  p.  870. 


34  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF   ST.  JOHN. 

the  priests  in  the  mountains  of  Judah,  south  of  Hebron,  which  still 
exists  under  the  same  name.1  His  advent,  like  that  of  the  Lord,  had 
been  predicted  long  before  he  was  born.  In  the  rapt  vision  of  Isaiah, 
when  he  was  commanded  to  speak  comfortably  to  Jerusalem,  and  fore- 
tell the  solemn  and  stately  march  of  mountains  and  deserts,  to  prepare 
the  way  of  the  Lord,  this  notable  individual  is  made  to  appear  in  the 
foreground,  as  herald  of  the  advancing  retinue  of  the  great  King  : 
"  The  voice  of  him  that  crieth  in  the  wilderness,  Prepare  ye  the  way  of 
the  Lord  ;  make  straight  in  the  desert  a  highway  for  our  God."  ^  But 
the  prophet  Malachi,  even  more  distinctly  predicted  the  forerunner: 
"  Behold,  I  will  send  my  messenger,  and  he  shall  prepare  the  way 
before  Me,  and  the  Lord,  whom  ye  seek,  shall  suddenly  come  to  His 
temple,  even  the  messenger  of  the  covenant,  whom  ye  delight  in :  be- 
hold, he  shall  come,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts."  "  Behold,  I  will  send 
you  Elijah  the  prophet."  And  the  Saviour,  speaking  of  John,  declared, 
"  This  is  Elias,  which  was  for  to  come."  John,  it  is  true,  told  the  Jews 
that  he  was  not  Elijah.  They  were  expecting  that  old  prophet  in 
person  to  rise  from  the  dead,  to  go  before  the  Messiah,  to  prepare  His 
way.  They  interpreted  too  literally ;  and  if  John  had  answered  their 
question  affirmatively,  they  would  have  been  led  into  great  mistake. 
But  although  John  was  not  literally  Elijah,  he  came  in  the  spirit  and 
power3  of  that  eminent  prophet ;  and  thus  was  the  prophecy  fulfilled. 
Whether  we  look  at  the  character  of  his  distinguished  prototype,  the 
wonders  he  performed,  or  the  honours  conferred  on  him,  he  stands  pre- 
eminent among  the  great  men  of  the  first  dispensation  ;  nay,  among 
those  of  every  dispensation  and  age.  He  stood  up  with  a  fearless 
front,  and  flung  back  the  charge  of  troubling  Israel  in  the  face  of  the 
monarch,  whose  hands  were  dripping  with  the  blood  of  his  brother- 
prophets.4  Rain  and  dew  were  withheld  at  his  word,  and  came  at  his 
command,  and  even  fire  from  heaven.  His  career  on  earth  was  closed 
with  a  splendour  which  suited  well  so  magnificent  a  history.  In  a 
chariot  of  fire,  with  horses  of  fire,  he  went  up  by  a  whirlwind  into 
heaven.  It  was  in  the  spirit  and  power  of  this  great  prophet,  that, 
according  to  the  message  of  the  angel  Gabriel  to  Zacharias,  his  pre- 
dicted son  should  go  before  Messiah. 

Miracles  preceded  and  attended  his  birth.  It  was  part  of  the  angel's 
message  to  Zacharias,  that  he  should  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost, 
from  his  mother's  womb.5  His  peculiar  holiness  from  his  birth 

1  Kob.  Bib.  Ees.,  ii.,  p.  206. 

2  Isa.  xl.  3  ;  Mai.  iii.  1 ;   iv.  5  ;  Matt.  xi.  14  ;   John  i.  21. 

3  Luke  i.  17. 

4  1  Kings  xviii.  18. 

5  Luke  i.  15. 


THE  BAPTIST'S  HOLINESS.  35 

may  well  be  taken  into  consideration,  in  forming  an  estimate  of  the 
remarkable  man  under  whose  moulding  influence  the  evangelist  John, 
with  all  his  native  quickness  of  susceptibility  to  impression,  fell,  just 
at  that  period  when  he  would  most  deeply  experience  the  benefit  of 
it,  in  preparing  him  for  that  great  future  of  his  life  which  was  about 
to  open  before  him. 

Mourning  over  the  corruption  of  the  times,  and  led  by  the  Spirit  which 
filled  him,  John  the  Baptist  retired  to  the  desert  regions  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  Jordan,  lying  to  the  north  of  the  Dead  Sea,  and  devoted  his  days 
to  holy  meditation,  or  to  the  instruction  of  the  few  who  at  length  heard 
of  his  sanctity  and  wisdom.  It  is  altogether  probable  that  John  the 
apostle,  and  others  who  are  mentioned  as  present  with  John  the 
Baptist  as  "his  disciples,"  when  he  came  bearing  witness  to  Jesus,1 
had  for  some  time  shared  in  this  instruction  in  the  wilderness.  They 
had  gone  down  from  Galilee  into  the  wilderness  where  John  was,  and 
put  themselves  under  his  instruction.  These  disciples  evidently  stood 
in  a  nearer  relation  to  him,  implying  a  longer  and  more  intimate 
acquaintance  than  could  have  been  claimed  for  the  multitude  in 
general,  that  thronged  about  him.  How  important  a  bearing  on  their 
training  for  their  future  work  must  the  tuition  of  such  a  man  have 
exerted  !  They  needed  no  one  to  assure  them  of  the  genuine  purity 
the  humility,  and  self-abnegation  of  his  character.  They  saw  him  in 
private,  in  his  unrestrained  and  familiar  moods,  as  well  as  in  public. 
His  garments  were  coarse  ;  he  drank  neither  wine,  nor  strong  drink, 
but  lived  a  life  of  abstinence  and  austerity,  satisfying  his  simple  wants 
with  a  nourishment  which  the  wilderness  afforded.2  He  kept  under 

1  John  i.  35-42. 

2  Several  species  of   locusts  are  mentioned  in  Scripture,  which  were  used  for 
food  (Lev.  xi.  22).     The  migratory  locust  ((Edipoda  migratoria)  may  be  taken  as 
the  type  of  its  family.    They  are  used  as  an  article  of  diet  in  Africa  and  Abyssinia, 
and  other  countries  they  frequent,  thus  compensating  in  some  way  for  the  amount 
of  vegetable  food  they  consume.    (See  Bible  Animals,  by  the  Kev.  J.  Or.  Wood,  M.A., 
F.L.S.,  p.  596.)     Herodotus  describes  the  Libyans  as  making  use  of  the  locust  for 
food.    (Melp.,  chap.  172.    See  also  Pliny,  H.  N.,  vi.,  35.)      Signor  Pierotti  says,  in 
his  "Customs  and  Traditions  of  Palestine,"  that  locusts  are  excellent  food,  and 
that  he  was  accustomed  to  eat  them,  not  from  necessity,  but  from  choice.     Burck- 
hardt  says  that  he  saw  among  the  Arabs  "  locust-shops,"  where  they  were  sold  by 
measure.      Dr.  Thomson  says  that  in  Syria  they  are  eaten  only  by  the  poorest  of 
the  people.     (Land  and  Book,  ii.,  108.)     They  are  boiled  alive  in  salt  and  water, 
then  dried,  and  fried  in  butter,  or  their  bodies  ground  into  *ine  dust,  and  eaten 
with  milk  or  honey.     This  locust-dust  mixed  with  honey  was  no  doubt  the  food  of 
John  the  Baptist.     Some  commentators,  under  the  impression  that  locusts  were 
not  fit  for  food,  conjectured  that  the  original  reading  must  have  been,  not  d/f/oi'Sej, 
but  eynpides  (cakes),  or  KaplSes  (shrimps).      The  honey  of  bees  flowed  in  abundance 
from  the  clefts  of  the  rocks  in  the  wilderness ;  and  there  was  a  kind  of  honey  thai 
issued  from  fig-trees,  palms,  and  other  trees. 

In  the  accompanying  plate  there  are  two  species  of  locusts  represented.     Those 


36  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF   ST.  JOHN. 

his  body,  not  ministering  to  the  lusts  of  the  flesh.  Josephus  gives  an 
account  of  one  of  his  own  instructors,  Banus  by  name,  which  throws 
light  on  the  manner  of  John's  life  in  the  desert,  and  that  of  the 
disciples  who  gathered  around  him :  "  He  lived  in  the  desert,  and  used 
no  other  clothing  than  grew  upon  trees,  and  had  no  food  other  than 
that  which  grew  of  its  own  accord,  and  bathed  himself  in  cold  water 
frequently,  both  by  night  and  day.  I  imitated  him  in  these  things, 
and  continued  with  him  three  years."  l 

It  was  "the  wilderness  of  Judaea,"2  from  which  the  Baptist,  the  first 
master  of  John,  is  said  to  have  come  preaching.  There  is  a  wilder- 
ness-region, in  the  South  Jordanic  country,  where  he  had  probably 
spent  his  earlier  years ;  but  it  was  in  a  locality  farther  to  the  north, 
in  the  vicinity  of  Bethabara,  and  much  nearer  Galilee,  where  he 
entered  on  his  ministry.  Bethabara  was  "beyond  Jordan,"  that  is  to  the 
east  of  the  river.  The  special  locality  where  he  first  made  his  appear- 
ance was  probably  near  the  more  northern  ford,3  not  far  from  Succoth, 
the  ford  by  which  Jacob  crossed  from  Mahanaim, — by  which  the  Midian- 
ites  endeavoured  to  escape  in  their  flight  from  the  sword  of  Gideon,  and 
where  Jephthah  slew  the  Ephraimites.  This  wilderness,  whether 
on  the  eastern  or  western  side  of  the  Jordan,  has  never  been  inhabited, 
except  for  purposes  of  ascetic  seclusion,  as  by  the  Essenes  and  the  her- 
mits of  later  times.  It  was  here  that  the  prophet  Elijah  made  his  last 
appearance,  before  he  was  taken  from  the  sight  of  his  disciple  and  suc- 
cessor. And  here  his  great  representative,  as  if  the  old  prophet  had 
risen  from  the  dead,  suddenly  appeared.  He  had  been  residing  there, 
making  his  abode,  like  the  sons  of  the  prophets,  in  the  leafy  thickets  of 
the  Jordan  forest.  His  food  was  the  locusts  of  the  desert  and  the  "wild 
honey,"  or  "  manna,*'  that  dropped  from  the  tamarisks  ;  his  clothing 
was  a  garment  of  camel's  hair,  fastened  with  a  "  leathern  girdle  round 
his  loins." 

Here  what  sweet  communion  he  had  with  God  !  He  lay  down  to 
sleep  in  the  fear  and  love  of  God  ;  he  awaked  to  adore  and  glorify  Him ; 
and  with  Him  he  daily  walked,  thus  strengthening  every  holy  resolution 
and  growing  in  every  grace,  until  he  was  prepared  to  come  forth  from 
his  seclusion  in  that  full-orbed  brightness,  which  at  once  inspired  the 
multitude  with  awe,  and  sent  the  fame  of  him  to  every  quarter  of  the 
land.  The  holiness  of  John  was  one  grand  element  of  his  greatness, 
and  of  his  fitness  for  the  office  to  which  he  was  called.  No  holier  man, 

on  the  wing,  with  long  heads,  are  a  species  of  Truxalis,  those  on  the  ground  the 
common  migratory  locust. 

1  Life,  §  2. 

2  Matt.  iii.  1. 

3  2Enon  was  not  situated  near  this  ford,  as  is  commonly  supposed.     See  Note  3, 
p.  59. 


THE   BAPTIST   A    GREAT   TEACHER.  37 

not  even  Enoch,  who  walked  with  God,  and  was  translated,  nor  Elijah, 
who  rode  to  heaven  in  his  chariot  of  fire,  had  appeared  before  his  time. 
This  was  the  eminence,  doubtless,  to  which  He  who  came  after  him,  the 
latchet  of  whose  shoes  he  felt  himself  unworthy  to  unloose,  particularly 
referred,  when  He  said  that  there  had  not  arisen  among  men  "a  greater 
than  John  the  Baptist."1  It  was  this  that  so  qualified  him  to  be  the 
teacher  of  those  Galileans,  of  whom  the  youthful  John  was  one,  who 
were  so  soon  to  be  called  to  follow  Jesus  as  His  first  disciples,  and  were 
eventually  to  be  appointed  His  apostles. 

He  had  all  the  qualities  which  go  to  form  the  great  teacher  and 
preacher  of  truth.  In  addition  to  that  first  and  most  important  quali- 
fication of  all,  godliness  and  a  blameless  life,  he  evidently  possessed  a 
commanding  intellect,  enabling  him  to  comprehend  the  great  truths 
committed  to  him,  and  by  his  earnestness  and  ability  to  express  these 
truths  clearly  and  forcibly ;  and  at  the  same  time,  to  put  himself  into 
contact  and  sympathy  with  his  pupils  and  hearers,  he  had  that  power 
of  self-impressment  which  is  a  distinguishing  mark  of  all  great 
teachers.  Prior  to  His  entering  on  His  public  work,  our  Lord  does  not 
appear  to  have  opened  His  lips  to  give  any  instruction  to  men ;  indeed, 
it  is  quite  evident,  although  they  were  kinsmen,  that,  prior  to  his  bap- 
tism of  Jesus,  John  had  had  no  intercourse  with  Him,  and  did  not  even 
know  His  person.  Yet  none  of  the  inspired  men  that  went  before  John 
the  Baptist  excelled  or  equalled  him,  in  the  clear  view  he  had  of  the 
doctrine  which  was  to  be  taught  by  Messiah.  How  clearly  he  taught 
the  necessity  of  repentance  and  faith  in  the  Mediator,  in  order  to  life 
eternal!  With  a  mighty  hand  he  struck  at  once  at  that  great  error 
which  hung  like  a  millstone  around  the  neck  of  the  chosen  people,  that 
descent  from  Abraham  and  the  observance  of  outward  ceremonies  were 
the  only  requisites  for  admittance  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  most 
undoubted  Abrahamic  succession,  and  the  most  scrupulous  attention  to 
the  externals  of  religion  would  do  them  no  good,  without  repentance  for 
sin,  and  a  right  reception  of  the  promised  Saviour.  "  Who  has  told 
you,"  he  said,  "  that  by  simple  baptism  at  my  hands  you  can  escape 
the  coming  wrath  ?  I  tell  you,  Nay.  Trust  not  to  your  old  saying,  *  We 
are  the  children  of  Abraham  ' ;  for  I  tell  you  that  God's  kingdom  is  not 
confined  to  the  race  of  Abraham,  and  that  from  these  very  stones  that 
lie  upon  the  river's  brink,  He  can  raise  up  His  children.  Repent  ye, 
repent  ye  !  and  do  works  meet  for  repentance."2 

He  proclaimed  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  a  doctrine  which  the 

twelve  apostles  understood  so  imperfectly,  until  the  Spirit  Himself  was 

poured  out  on  them   on  the  day  of  Pentecost.     He  told  his  disciples 

and  hearers  that  He  who  was  about  to  come  should  baptize  them  with  the 

1  Matt.  xi.  11.  2  Matt.  iii.  7-12. 


38  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

Holy  Ghost ;  that  as  he  (the  Baptist)  applied  water  to  the  bodies  of 
men,  so  Christ  would  apply  His  Spirit  to  their  souls,  until  He  should 
thoroughly  penetrate  their  being,  and  form  within  them  a  new  principle 
of  life.1  "  He  whom  God  hath  sent  (meaning  not  himself,  but  Messiah, 
the  Son  of  God)  speaketh  the  words  of  God :  for  God  giveth  not  the 
Spirit  by  measure  unto  Him.  The  Father  loveth  the  Son,  and  hath 
given  all  things  into  His  hand.  He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath 
everlasting  life :  and  he  that  believeth  not  the  Son  shall  not  see  life ; 
but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him."2  These  unquestionably  are  the 
words  of  the  Baptist,  and  not  of  the  evangelist,  as  has  sometimes  been 
suggested.  In  them  he  "  adverts  to  the  reasons  confirming  what  he  had 
said,  namely,  that  the  precedence  is  due  not  to  him,  but  to  Jesus.  It  is, 
he  means  to  say,  only  just  that  His  fame  should  be  spread,  and  the  num- 
ber of  His  disciples  increased,  inasmuch  as  He  was  sent  from  heaven, 
endowed  with  gifts  immeasurably  great  j  nay,  was  the  beloved  Son  of 
God,  the  Lord,  and  promised  Saviour."  3  If  such  were  the  public  teach- 
ings of  the  forerunner,  what  must  have  been  his  teachings  in  private  to 
those  who  attached  themselves  to  him  as  disciples  ?  What  a  prepara- 
tion St.  John  had  in  these  private  instructions  for  that  higher  disciple- 
ship  to  HIM  who  taught  as  never  man  taught.4 

John  the  Baptist  was  distinguished,  as  a  preacher,  for  great  fervour 
and  earnestness  ;  and  perhaps  we  may  see  the  effect  of  his  very  manner 
on  one  so  susceptible  as  the  evangelist,  in  his  having  won  the  title  of  a 
son  of  thunder.  He  was  a  voice,  "a  voice  crying  in  the  wilderness." 
That  voice  went  pealing  and  echoing  among  the  crowds  gathered  on  the 
banks  of  the  Jordan  :  "  REPENT  YE  ; "  "  PREPARE  YE  THE  WAY  OP  THE 
LORD."  Turning  to  the  Pharisees,  "  Who  hath  warned  you,  0  genera- 
tion of  vipers,  to  flee  from  the  coming  wrath  ?  Repent  ye,  and  by  your 
works  give  evidence  of  the  genuineness  of  your  repentance.  For,  lo ! 
He  cometh  ;  He  cometh  who  shall  baptize,  not  only  with  the  Holy  Ghost, 

1  Matt.  Hi.  11 ;    John  i.  33. 

2  John  iii.  34-36. 

3  Tittm.  in  Bloomf. 

4  The  question  which  he  sent  to  Jesus  from  prison,  "  Art  thou  He  that  should 
come,  or  do  we  look  for  another  ?  "  presents  a  striking  instance  of  the  effect  of  the 
state  of  the  body  on  the  mind  ;  for  it  is  manifest  that  he  sent  his  disciples  with 
this  question,  not  to  resolve  any  doubts  of  theirs,  but  his  own.  His  exclusion  from  air 
and  light  and  exercise  had  affected  his  health,  which  had  reacted  on  his  mind. 
Accustomed  to  the  freedom  of  the  wilderness,  he  droops  like  a   caged    lion  or 
chained  eagle.     In  his  gloomy  prison  he  was  overtaken  by  an  hour  of  darkness,  in 
which  he  began  to  call  in  question  his  former  convictions.     In  the  Elijah-like  wrath 
and  impetuosity  which    distinguished  him,  and  led  him  to  look  for  judgments 
against  the  corruptions  of  the  times,  he  was  disposed  to  interpret  the  miracles  of 
mercy  of  the  Lord,  and  His  receiving  of  publicans  and  sinners,  to  His  disad- 
vantage. 


THE    BAPTIST    POINTS    OUT   JESUS.  39 

but  with  fire.  A  sifting  by  fire  will  go  along  with  the  mighty  opera- 
tions of  the  Spirit,  and  consume  all  who  will  not  appropriate  the  latter. 
He  will  hew  down  all  the  trees  which  bring  not  forth  good  fruit,  and  cast 
them  into  the  fire.  Lo !  I  see  the  Mighty  One  advancing  with  His  fan  in 
His  hand,  to  purify  the  threshing  floor  of  His  kingdom ;  and  He  will 
burn  up  the  chaff  with  unquenchable  fire."  Such  were  the  stirring 
appeals  he  addressed  to  his  auditors.  All  classes,  not  only  self- 
righteous  Pharisees,  but  the  common  people,  and  soldiers l  from  the 
Roman  garrison,  were  drawn  together.  Jerusalem  and  all  Judasa  and 
all  the  region  round  about  Jordan  went  out  to  listen  to  his  thrilling 
appeals,  and  were  baptized  of  him  in  Jordan,  confessing  their  sins.  How 
deep  must  have  been  the  impression  on  the  young  men  from  Bethsaida 
in  Galilee,  who  had  joined  John,  before  he  appeared  publicly  at  the 
fords  of  the  Jordan,  and  received  baptism  at  his  hands,  before  the  great 
sensation  produced  by  his  public  harangues !  It  is  very  evident  that 
they  had  found  their  way  to  the  spot  at  a  very  early  period  of  John's 
ministry,  and  had  attached  themselves  to  him  as  personal  attendants 
and  disciples.  With  the  crowd  that  went  out  to  him,  they  hung  upon 
his  burning  words.  His  earnest  solemn  appeals  deeply  moved  their 
hearts.  They  listened  again  and  again,  not  doubting  that  they  were 
the  words  of  a  prophet  of  God.  There  can  not  be  the  least  doubt  that 
they  were  with  him  on  that  memorable  occasion,  when  John  pointed 
out  JESUS  to  his  hearers,  as  He  emerged  from  his  fearful  encounter 
with  the  powers  of  darkness  in  the  wilderness,  as  "  THE  LAMB  OF 

GOD       WHICH      TAKETH     AWAY     THE     SIN    OF     THE     WORLD."  2          "  Behold 

the  Lamb  of  God,  without  blemish  and  without  spot,  of  whom  the 
sacrificial  lamb,  offered  for  so  many  ages  by  the  Jewish  nation,  is  but  a 
type,  whose  blood  is  sufficient  for  the  remission  of  all  sin." 

The  next  day,  John  the  Baptist  was  standing  on  the  banks  of  the 
river,  or  had  not  yet,  more  probably,  come  forth  to  his  daily  work  of 
preaching  and  baptizing,  and  two  of  the  Galilean  youths,  who  had 
attached  themselves  as  disciples,  were  with  him.3  The  multitude  do 
not  appear  to  have  been  present,  it  was  too  early  in  the  day;  Jesus  is 
seen  again  walking  in  the  distance.  John,  directing  their  attention  to 
Him,  simply  says,  "Behold  the  Lamb  of  God!  "  He  no  longer  speaks 
to  the  multitude  ;  He  speaks  to  them  personally.  He  calls  on  them  to 
behold  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  He,  whose  public  appeals  were  so 

1  These  soldiers,  Luke  iii.  14,  are  designated  by  a  term  orpareuiViei/ot  (not  0-rpcmuJTcu) , 
which  denotes  that  they  were  in  performance  of  their  duty  as  soldiers.     Wherever 
great  crowds  of  people  were  drawn  together,  there  the  military  commander  of  the 
district  was  required  to  be  present,  with  sufficient  force  to  quell  tumult  or  insur- 
rection. 

2  John  i.  29. 

3  John  i.  35-42. 


40  THE    LIFE    AND   WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

powerful,  could  be  just  as  faithful  in  the  private,  personal  appeal. 
His  words,  which  have  been  so  often  repeated,  in  directing  men  to 
the  Saviour,  were  not  without  effect  at  their  first  utterance.  The 
personal  appeal  and  reiteration  of  the  testimony  he  had  publicly  borne 
in  regard  to  Jesus,  have  the  desired  effect.  Christ,  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, had  been  presented  to  them,  not  in  a  dim,  uncertain  light ;  and 
if  they  had  before  enjoyed  the  private  instruction  of  John,  Christ 
must  have  been  made  in  the  prophecies  to  stand  out  distinctly  to  their 
faith,  for  "the  testimony  of  Jesus  is  the  spirit  of  prophecy."1  It  is  no 
less  "  the  spirit  "  of  the  entire  Old  Testament.  Its  appointed  sacrifices, 
drenching  the  earth  with  the  blood  of  animals  selected  as  without 
blemish  or  spot,  pointed  to  the  great  sacrifice  to  be  made  for  sin,  they 
testified  in  characters  of  blood  to  the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away 
sin.  He  therefore  uses  a  term  to  designate  Jesus  familiar  to  and 
well  understood  by  these  young  disciples.  The  paschal  lamb  and 
the  lamb  in  the  daily  sacrifice  were  typical  of  a  suffering  Saviour. 
But  there  is  doubtless  a  distinct  allusion  to  the  great  prophecy  in 
Isaiah,2  where  Messiah  is  foretold  as  a  lamb  led  to  the  slaughter; 
as  bearing  our  griefs,  and  carrying  our  sorrows  ;  stricken  for  the  trans- 
gression of  His  people ;  His  soul  made  an  offering  for  sin.  They 
therefore  understand  their  master  to  say,  "  Behold  the  Lamb,  foretold 
by  prophets,  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world  !  Believe  in 
Him  !  He  takes  away  sin  by  bearing  it,  atoning  for  it,  so  as  to  exempt 
all  who  believe  in  Him  from  the  punishment  due  to  their  sins."  "  They 
followed  Jesus."  It  was  the  beginning  of  their  faith.  Their  connec- 
tion with,  and  instruction  by,  John,  was  the  first  step  or  stage  in  it ; 
it  was  the  immediate  preparatory  process,  this  was  the  second. 

As  they  walk  in  silence  and  reverence  behind  Jesus,  He  notices  them, 
and  encourages  them  to  come  nearer  to  Him  and  to  speak,  by  the  ques- 
tion, "  What  seek  ye  ?  "  He  wishes  to  inspire  them  with  confidence 
(filled  with  awe  as  they  must  have  been,  by  what  they  had  just  learned 
from  John,  that  their  eyes  were  then  actually  resting  on  the  Lamb  of 
God,  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world),  and  therefore  He  does 
not  wait  for  them  first  to  speak  to  Him.  To.  their  question,  "  Where 
dwellest  Thou  ?  "  they  receive  the  prompt  invitation,  "  Come  and  see." 
They  accompany  Him  to  the  place  ;  and  for  the  first  time  listen  to  the 
speech  of  Him  who  spake  as  never  man  spake.  They  tarried  with 
Him  the  remainder  of  that  day.  We  cannot  doubt  that  the  time  was 
fully  occupied  with  instruction  suited  to  their  necessities  and  worthy 
of  HIM.  It  was  the  beginning  of  a  new  life.  It  was  their  sense  of 
need  of  One  who  could  do  more  for  them  than  John,  who  could  atone 
for  their  sins,  and  forgive  them,  which  led  them  to  follow  Him  so 
1  Rev.  xix.  10.  2  isa.  im. 


ST.  JOHN    FOLLOWS   JESUS.  41 

promptly.  Their  knowledge  was  very  imperfect,  as  consequently  must 
have  also  been  their  faith.  But  it  was  sufficient  to  lead  them  to  attach 
themselves  personally  to  Christ,  and  to  confide  implicitly  in  Him  as 
their  Teacher  and  Guide.  The  light  which  shone  in  them,  however 
feebly,  from  that  moment  continued  to  wax  stronger  and  stronger, 
even  unto  the  perfect  day. 

The  name  of  one  of  these  young  men  is  given,  Andrew,  Simon 
Peter's  brother.  He  was  afterwards  called  to  the  apostleship.  The 
name  of  the  other  is  not  given,  but  there  can  not  be  the  least  doubt 
it  was  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  known  as  "  the  disciple  whom  Jesus 
loved."  He  carefully  suppresses  his  name  in  other  instances  in 
which  he  unmistakably  refers  to  himself.  When  an  old  man,  in  the 
city  of  Ephesus,  this  scene  in  his  youth,  on  the  shores  of  the  far-distant 
Jordan,  rises  up  distinctly  before  his  view.  He  sees  again  the  prophet 
from  the  wilderness,  in  his  strange  garb,  as  he  stands  on  the  banks, 
and  points  out  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  He  sees  himself  and  his 
companion  as  they  timidly  follow  after  Jesus.  He  recalls  the  very  hour 
of  the  day,  as  well  as  the  place,  of  the  first  interview  with  the  Saviour, 
whom  he  had  loved  and  served  so  long  :  "  It  was  about  the  tenth 
hour."  He  had  long  resided  among  the  Gentiles  when  he  wrote  this  ; 
the  Christian  community  he  addressed  was  largely  composed  of  Gen- 
tiles ;  the  Jewish  nation  for  a  full  quarter  of  a  century  had  been  dis- 
persed and  scattered  far  and  wide.  It  would  have  been  misleading  to 
the  mass  of  his  readers  had  he  designated  the  hour  according  to  the 
division  of  the  day  made  by  the  Jews,  who  commenced  their  day  at 
sunset,  dividing  it  into  twelve  hours  till  sunrise,  and  again  from  sunrise 
till  sunset,  into  the  same  number.  He  therefore  adopts  the  horology 
of  the  Romans,  who  commenced  their  civil  day  as  we  do,  at  midnight, 
dividing  it  into  twelve  hours  till  noon,  and  again  from  noon  till  mid- 
night, making  the  day  to  consist  of  twenty-four  hours  of  equal  length, 
at  every  season  of  the  year.  It  was  then  about  ten  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  or  two  hours  before  noon,  instead  of  two  hours  before  sunset, 
when  John  and  Andrew  followed  Jesus.  John  the  Baptist,  as  has  been 
already  suggested,  had  not  commenced  his  labours  for  the  day ;  the 
crowd  had  not  time  to  gather  from  the  places  where  they  had  passed 
the  night.  That  it  was  not  a  hurried  visit  in  the  evening,  but  an  in- 
terview extending  from  an  hour  in  the  morning,  till  night,  seems  to  be 
clearly  indicated,  by  the  language  that  the  two  disciples  "  abode  with 
him  that  day."  l  That  was  a  memorable  day  in  the  history  of  our 

1  Lampe,  who  writes  on  the  Life  and  the  Gospel  of  John  with  so  much  learning, 
and  whose  work  in  Joannem  has  proved  a  thesaurus  to  many  who  have  followed 
him,  although  he  says  the  tenth  hour  was  quarto,  pomeridiana,  yet  adds  : — "  Passim 
interpretes  hasc  verba  accipiuut  tanquam  terminum  a  quo.  Verum  eo  magis  propendeo, 


42  THE   LIFE    A.ND   WRITINGS   OF    ST.  JOHN. 

apostle.  We  know  not  what  were  the  topics  the  Great  Teacher  dis- 
coursed upon  ;  John  gives  no  intimation.  That  they  were  topics  worthy 
of  the  occasion,  we  can  not  doubt ;  and  that  they  served  to  convince 
the  young  men  that  they  had  found  Christ,  we  know.1  The  whole 
subsequent  life  of  the  apostle  took  its  shape  and  direction  from  the 
interview  to  which  he  was  invited  on  the  morning  of  that  day. 

John  the  Baptist  was  the  connecting  link  between  the  old  and  the 
new  economy.  He  was  the  herald  immediately  preceding  that  Saviour, 
whom  other  prophets  from  remote  ages  had  foretold.  The  great  sen- 
sation produced  by  his  preaching,  the  multitude  that  thronged  about 
him,  did  not  cause  him  to  forget  his  true  position,  or  to  aspire  to  any 
higher  work  than  that  which  had  been  assigned  him.  He  was  not  dis- 
turbed when  John  and  Peter  and  Andrew  ceased  to  own  him  as  their 
master,  and  followed  Jesus.  He  had  himself  directed  them  to  Him, 
as  the  Lamb  of  God.  It  is  interesting  to  know  that  the  words  he  used, 
now  so  familiar  to  the  Christian  ear,  were  instrumental  in  leading  the 
evangelist  who  records  them, — who  held  so  conspicuous  a  place  among 
the  apostles,  and  whose  name  and  writings  have  been  so  dear  in  all 
ages, — and  his  companions  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Saviour,  the  first 
example  of  their  saving  effect.  "  Ye  yourselves  bear  me  witness,"  John 
the  Baptist  said  to  the  Jews,  "  that  I  said,  I  am  not  the  Christ,  but 
that  I  am  sent  before  Him.  He  that  hath  the  bride  is  the  Bridegroom  : 
but  the  friend  of  the  Bridegroom,  which  standeth  and  heareth  Him, 
rejoiceth  greatly  because  of  the  Bridegroom's  voice :  this  my  joy 
therefore  is  fulfilled.  He  must  increase,  but  I  must  decrease."  These 
are  noble  words,  worthy  of  one  who  was  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
They  were  uttered  in  rebuke  of  those  who  sought  to  excite  his  jealousy, 
because  Jesus,  or  the  disciples  of  Jesus,  baptized,  and  more  were  now 
nocking  to  Christ's  than  to  John's  ministry.  The  fruit  of  the  little 
handful  was  beginning  already  to  shake  like  Lebanon.3  He  reminded 
them  that  he  had  constantly,  both  in  public  and  private,  disavowed 
any  claim  to  the  Messiahship,  but  had  merely  been  sent  to  preface  His 
way,  who  was  to  fill  that  great  office.  He  likens  Christ  to  the  Bride- 
groom, and  himself  to  the  paranymph,  or  friend  of  the  Bridegroom, 
who  acts  in  His  behalf,  in  the  ceremony  of  solemnizing  the  marriage, 
and  rejoices  greatly  at  the  happiness  of  his  friend  :  "  He  that  hath  the 
bride  is  the  Bridegroom."  The  Church  is  His ;  won  by  His  love, 

ut  ea  pro  termino  ad  quern  habeam.  Cum  enim  in  vicinia  Jesus  noctem  transegisset, 
procul  dubio  jam  ante  meridiem  prodiit,  et  a  Joanne  conspectus  est,  ac  reliquam 
partem  diei  ad  decimam  usque  horam  discipulis  dedit"  (Com.  in  Joan.,  i.,  39). 

1  John  i.  41. 

2  John  iii.  28-30. 

3  Ps.  Ixxii.  16. 


THE  BAPTIST'S  DEATH.  43 

ransomed  at  a  great  price,  a  price  which  He  alone  could  pay,  purified 
and  adorned  by  His  grace.  The  friend  of  the  Bridegroom,  stands  and 
hears  Him,  and  rejoices  greatly  at  the  satisfaction  of  the  Bridegroom, 
and  that  He  has  at  length  come  to  the  long-expected  espousals.  "  This 
is  my  joy,"  says  John ;  "  I  am  glad  like  one  that  officiates  at  the  mar- 
riage of  a  friend.  He  must  increase,  but  I  must  decrease.  My  personal 
influence  with  the  people  is  destined  steadily  to  decline,  whilst  His  fame 
and  glory  are  destined  just  as  steadily  to  advance."  But  the  prospect  did 
not  disturb  him.  Instead  of  diminishing  it  rather  contributed  to  enhance 
his  satisfaction.  There  was  no  faltering  in  his  tone  when  he  said, 
"  This  my  joy  therefore  is  fulfilled."  It  is  not  improbable  that  he  said 
these  things  with  the  clear  presentiment  of  his  early  and  cruel  death : — 
"My  goal  is  near  at  hand  ;  I  must  decrease;  my  race  is  nearly  run. 
But  it  having  been  appointed  me  to  be  the  herald  of  Messiah,  to  be  the 
friend  of  the  Bridegroom,  to  lead  his  chosen  bride  to  him,  I  am  satis- 
fied ;  I  ask  no  greater  honour,  no  greater  joy  !  "  It  is  to  be  remembered 
that  John  the  Baptist  was  in  the  prime  and  vigour  of  his  days,  and  that 
the  words,  therefore,  are  those  of  one  who  was  still  a  young  man.  He  was 
but  a  few  months  older  than  Christ,  and  it  is  supposed  entered  on  his 
ministry  about  six  months  before  Christ.  About  the  same  length  of 
time  after  Christ  entered  on  His  ministry,  the  ministry  of  John  was 
brought  to  a  close.  By  his  faithful  rebuke  of  sin,  he  offended  Herod 
Antipas,  who  ruled  in  Peraea,  where  he  mainly  resided.  He  was  seized 
and  imprisoned  in  the  border-fortress  of  Machserus.1  Here  he  was 
beheaded,  and  his  head  on  a  platter  was  paraded  at  a  feast  given  by 
Herod  to  his  high  captains,  as  a  present  to  a  daughter  of  Herodias 
who  had  danced  before  them.2 

1  Joseph.  Ant.,  xviii.,  5  (2).        2  Mark  vi.  19-29. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

ST.  JOHN  UNDER  THE  TRAINING 

OF  THE  GREAT  MASTER  HIMSELF,  FROM  THE   BEGINNING 
OF  HIS   PUBLIC   MINISTRY  TO  ITS   CLOSE. 

FIRST  MEETING  WITH  JESUS. RETURNS  TO  GALILEE  WITH  JESUS. — CALL  TO 

THE  DISCIPLESHIP. — KANA-EL-JELIL. — HIS  FAITH  STRENGTHENED. CAPER- 
NAUM.  WITH  HIS  MASTER,  JOINS  CARAVAN  TO  JERUSALEM. — ROUTE. — 

TRANS- JORDANIC  COUNTRY. — SACRED  REMINISCENCES. — JERUSALEM  AND  THE 

TEMPLE. — NICODEMUS. ST.  JOHN   PROBABLY  PRESENT  AT  THE  INTERVIEW. 

—  RURAL   PARTS   OF   JUD^A. — ST.  JOHN   ENGAGES   IN  HIS  FIRST  PUBLIC 

WORK. UNWRITTEN  HISTORY. CENTRAL   PALESTINE. — JESUS  AMONG  THE 

SAMARITANS. — WONDERFUL  RESULT. IMPRESSION  ON  ST.  JOHN. — NAZA- 
RETH.  MIRACLES. — ST.  JOHN  FORSAKES  ALL  FOR  CHRIST. — HIS  FIRST  CIR- 
CUIT IN  GALILEE  WITH  JESUS. — CALL  OF  ST.  MATTHEW. — DAUGHTER  OF 
JAIRUS  AND  THE  WIDOW'S  SON  RAISED  FROM  THE  DEAD. — ST.  JOHN'S  TRAIN- 
ING AND  PREPARATION  FOR  HIS  WORK. AGAIN  AT  JERUSALEM.— APOSTLES 

APPOINTED. — THEIR  NAMES. — THEIR  GIFTS.— SERMON  ON  THE  MOUNT,  AN 
INAUGURATIVE  DISCOURSE. — ANOTHER  CIRCUIT  IN  GALILEE.  —  CHRIST  BEGINS 
TO  TEACH  BY  PARABLES. — THE  TWELVE  SENT  FORTH  BY  TWO  AND  TWO. — 
WHO  WAS  ST.  JOHN'S  ASSOCIATE  ?— JESUS  WALKS  ON  THE  SEA. — DAYS  OF 

DARKNESS  DRAWING  NEAR. — LAST  YEAR  OF  ST.  JOHN  WITH  CHRIST. VISIT 

TO    THE    GENTILE    WORLD. — JESUS    FORETELLS    HIS    OWN   DEATH. — THE 

TRANSFIGURATION. — ITS  DESIGN. ITS  EFFECT    ON  ST,  JOHN. — FAULTS  OF 

THE   APOSTLE. JEALOUSY    AND    BIGOTRY. ANGER.  —  RESURRECTION    OF 

LAZARUS. — PERJIA. — PARABLES  AT  THIS  TIME. — AMBITION  OF  ST.  JOHN. — 
END  OF  PUPILAGE  DRAWING  NEAR. — LAST  PUBLIC  DISCOURSES  AND  PARABLES 
OF  JESUS. — IMPRESSIONS  ON  ST.  JOHN. — ST.  JOHN  SENT  WITH  ST.  PETER  TO 
PREPARE  THE  FEAST  OF  PASSOVER. 

WE  have  met  the  evangelist  with  his  first  teacher,  that  remarkable 
man,  John  the  Baptist.  He  was  with  him  in  the  Trans- Jordanic 
country  (Peraaa,  as  it  was  called  in  the  Greek  nomenclature  of  its 
Roman  conquerors)  where  John  was  baptizing.  How  long  he  had 
been  his  disciple,  it  does  not  appear.  We  find  him  in  his  company 
shortly  after  Jesus  had  been  made  known  to  the  Baptist,  as  the  promised 
Messiah,  by  the  appointed  sign,  "Upon  whom  thou  shalt  see  the 
Spirit  descending,  and  remaining  on  Him,  the  same  is  He."  l  After  His 
baptism,  "  Jesus  was  led  up  of  the  Spirit  into  the  wilderness,"  and  it 

1  John  i.  33. 


HE    RETURNS    TO    GALILEE    WITH    JESUS.  45 

•was  probably  on  His  return  from  the  scene  of  temptation,  that  John  the 
Baptist  stood  and  two  of  his  disciples  ;  and  looking  upon  Jesus  as  He 
walked,  he  said,  "  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God !  " 

Here  in  this  secluded  region,  away  from  those  stirring  centres  of 
life,  Jerusalem  and  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  where  David  when  an  exile 
from  his  capital,  under  the  rebellion  of  Absalom,  mourned  in  bitterness 
of  spirit  as  he  felt  all  God's  waves  and  billows  go  over  him,1  Jesus, 
the  Son  of  God,  was  first  pointed  out  by  His  forerunner  to  that  young 
disciple,  who  was  to  win  the  appellation,  and  be  known  in  the  ages  to 
come,  as  "  the  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved."  Could  we  fix  upon  the 
site  of  Bethabara,  we  might  know  that  we  were  not  far  from  the  exact 
spot.  But  it  has  pleased  Him  who  knows  the  infirmity  of  our  nature, 
— our  tendency  to  rest  in  a  veneration  for  sacred  places,  instead  of 
a  true  spirit  of  reverence  and  devotion, — to  substitute  pilgrimages  for 
a  self-denying  walk  and  prayerful  life, — that  neither  tradition  nor  hu- 
man monuments  should  preserve  any  certain  evidence  of  the  exact  locality 
of  many  of  the  most  interesting  scenes  and  events  recorded  in  the  New 
Testament.  To  such  travellers  as  Wilson,  Olin,  Durbin,  Stanley, 
Thomson,  and  Porter,  and  such  explorers  and  geographers  as  Niebuhr, 
Raumer,  Robinson,  and  Lynch,  we  are  indebted  for  information  which 
enables  us  to  test  traditions,  and  to  separate  those  which  have  a 
foundation  in  probable  truth  from  those  which  are  the  inventions  of 
superstition  or  of  ignorance.  Through  them  we  obtain  knowledge 
which  is  far  more  favourable  to  devotion  and  piety  than  that  veneration 
for  places  which  a  little  investigation,  or  a  small  measure  of  common 
sense,  will  be  sure  to  explode. 

It  is  with  such  enlightened  guides  as  these,  that  it  is  proposed  to 
trace  the  steps  of  the  beloved  disciple  as  he  follows  Jesus  during  the 
years  of  His  public  ministry,  receiving  instruction  and  gifts  and 
graces,  qualifying  him  for  the  Apostolate,  and  while  prosecuting  his 
own  ministry  in  his  native  land. 

Familiar  as  the  gospel  history  is,  showing  the  connection  of  St.  John 
with  our  Lord,  the  freest  use  must  be  made  of  it  in  any  account  that 
would  present  truly  the  life  and  character  of  the  disciple ;  for  it  was 
under  the  instruction  and  ministry  of  the  Saviour,  that  he  received  his 
preparation  for  the  high  office  and  special  work  to  which  he  was  called. 
Nor  can  we  appreciate  the  ministry  of  Christ  aright  until  we  learn  to 
view  it,  not  so  much  in  its  direct  influence  on  the  world  at  large,  as 
designed  to  instruct  and  train  the  apostles  for  their  work. 

John  returned  to  Galilee  with  Jesus  almost  immediately  after  his 
first  introduction  to  Him.  The  journey  seems  to  have  been  commenced 
on  the  very  next  day,  and  the  company  to  have  consisted  of  Jesus, 

1  Ps.  xlii. 


46  THE    LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OP    ST.  JOHN. 

John,  Andrew,  Peter,  Philip,  and  Nathanael.  By  what  route  they 
reached  Bethsaida,  or  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  from  the  desert  region  about 
the  Jordan,  it  would  be  difficult  now  to  determine.  The  green  slopes, 
cultivated  valleys,  and  populous  towns  and  cities  of  Galilee,  must  have 
presented  a  striking  contrast  to  the.jagged  cliffs  of  the  Jordan,  and  the 
knolls  and  rocks,  thrown  together  in  wild  confusion,  as  they  rise 
irregularly  and  recede  to  the  highlands  on  the  west,  and  to  the  moun- 
tain heights  on  the  east  beyond  Jordan.  Going  up  from  Beth-shean, 
or  Scy  thopolis,  as  they  approached  Tabor,  they  would  enter  on  that  arm 
of  the  great  plain  of  Esdraelon  l  which  sweeps  round  the  base  of  the 
mount,  and  extends  far  to  the  north,  forming  a  broad  tract  of  table- 
land, bordering  upon  the  deep  Jordan- valley  and  the  basin  of  the  Lake 
of  Tiberias.  If  they  ascended  Tabor,  there  was  presented  to  the  eye  a 
landscape,  extensive  and  beautiful,  one  of  the  finest  in  Palestine,  or 
perhaps  in  the  world.  Directly  beneath,  lies  spread  out  the  great  plain, 
which  extending  far  to  the  north,  even  now  contains  several  villages,  but 
at  that  time  swarmed  with  a  busy  population.  The  view  embraces  also 
the  western  part  of  the  great  plain  of  Esdraelon,  as  far  as  to  Carmel. 
On  the  right  of  Nazareth  a  portion  of  the  Mediterranean  is  seen  in  the 
north-west,  as  well  as  slight  glimpses  in  other  parts.  In  the  north  and 
north-east  are  Saf ed 2  and  its  mountains,  overtopped  by  snowy  peaks 
beyond.  At  the  distance  of  about  three  hours'  travel  is  seen  in  the 
great  plain  a  low  ridge  with  two  points,  called  by  the  Latin  monks  the 
Mount  of  Beatitudes.  On  the  right  the  whole  outline  of  the  basin  of 
the  Lake  of  Tiberias  can  be  traced  ;  but  only  a  small  spot  of  the  lake 
itself  is  visible  in  the  north-east.  Beyond  the  lake  the  eye  takes  in  the 
high  tablelands  of  Gaulonitis;  and  farther  down  beyond  the  Jordan, 
the  higher  mountains  of  the  ancient  Bashan  and  Gilead.  On  the 
south,  the  view  is  bounded  by  the  mountains  of  Gilboa,  forming  the 
northern  side  of  the  valley  of  Jezreel.3 

After  his  call,  when  he  left  his  father  and  the  servants  in  the  boat, 
mending  their  nets4  (his  call  to  the  discipleship,  in  distinction  from  his 
appointment  as  one  of  the  twelve  apostles),  John  appears  to  have  been 
an  almost  constant  attendant  of  our  Lord.  He  saw  the  greater  number 

1  The  Greek  form  of  the  Hebrew  word  Jezreel.     The  city  of  Jezreel  was  situated 
near  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  plain,  on  a  spur  of  Mount  Gilboa.     In  the  0.  T. 
the  plain  is  called  the  Valley  of  Jezreel. 

2  It  is  situated  on  a  bold  spur  of  the  Galilean  Anti-Lebanon.     It  was  one  of  the 
holy  cities  of  the  north  (Tiberias  was  the  other),  associated  with  the  last  efforts 
of  Judaism,  where,  according  to  rabbinical  belief,  Messiah  would  establish  His 
throne.     It  has  been  supposed  to  be  the  city  on  a  hill,  TTO'AIS  eTravw  opovs 

Matt.  v.  14. 

3  Eob.  Bib.  Res.,  ii.,  p.  354. 

4  Matt.  iv.  21 ;  Mark  i.  19. 


THEY   VISIT   CANA.  47 

of  His  miracles,  and  heard  the  most  of  His  discourses  and  parables.  He 
gives  an  account  of  eight  miracles,1  among  the  most  interesting  and 
important  performed  by  Christ,  which  are  not  mentioned  by  the  other 
evangelists.  It  may  not  be  easy  to  suggest  a  reason  why  such  im- 
portant miracles  as  the  healing  of  the  impotent  man  at  Bethesda  and 
the  raising  of  Lazarus,  are  not  found  in  the  synoptists,  as  the  three 
earliest  evangelists  are  sometimes  called ;  in  regard,  however,  to  the 
miracles  at  the  marriage  in  Cana,  and  the  healing  of  the  young  man 
lying  sick  at  Capernaum,  it  may  be  said  that  these  were  performed 
before  Matthew,  the  first  of  the  evangelists,  and  the  only  apostle,  save 
John,  in  their  number,  was  called  to  the  discipleship.  John  was,  no 
doubt,  present  at  the  performance  of  the  miracle  in  Cana  of  Galilee.2 
If  it  was  three  days  after  the  commencement  of  the  journey  from  the 
Jordan  3  when  this  miracle  was  performed,  and  if  our  Lord  went  by  the 
Sea  of  Tiberias,  and  took  the  disciples  already  called  with  Him,  He 
must  have  prosecuted  His  journey,  made  as  it  doubtless  was  on  foot, 
diligently.  Cana,  from  the  nearest  point  He  left  the  Jordan,  was  at  a 
distance  of  fifty  or  sixty  miles ;  by  the  Sea  of  Tiberias  the  distance 
must  have  been  still  greater.  It  would  require  two  days  for  Jesus  to 
reach  that  Sea.  From  an  incidental  remark  made  by  Josephus,4  it 
would  appear  that  Cana  was  a  night's  march  distant  from  Tiberias. 
By  modern  travellers,  it  (i.e.,  Kana-el-Jelil)  is  said  to  be  seventeen 
miles  distant  from  Capernaum  and  Tiberias,  eight  miles  north  of 
Nazareth.  This  Tiberias  (for  there  was  another  town  of  this  name  to 
the  north-east,  on  the  opposite  shore  of  the  lake),  was  on  the  western 
shore.  This  shore  and  the  little  plain  of  Gennesaret 5  were  the 
most  thickly  peopled  district  of  Palestine.  It  was  filled  with  towns 

1  Of  the  thirty-three  commonly  enumerated,  as  for  example  in  Trench's  work  on 
the  Miracles,  he  has  but  eight.     In  these  thirty-three,  however,  are  not  included 
several  events  of  the  most  highly  miraculous  character, — such  as  the  incarnation 
itself,  the  transfiguration,  the  voice  from  heaven  in  presence  of  the  Greeks,  the 
falling  backward  to  the  ground  of  the  Eoman  soldiers  in  Gethsemane,  when  Jesus 
said,  "  I  am  He,"  etc. 

2  "  There  want  not  indeed  some  and  especially  the  middle  writers  of  the  Church, 
who  will  have  our  apostle  to  have  been  married,  and  that  it  was  his  marriage 
which  our  Lord  was  at  in  Cana  of  Galilee,  invited  thither  on  account  of  his  con- 
sanguinity and   alliance  ;  but  that  being  convinced   by  the  miracle  of  the  water 
turned  into  wine,  he  immediately  relinquished  his  conjugal  relation,  and  became 
one  of  our  Lord's  disciples.     But  this,  as  Barrow  himself  confesses,  is  trifling, 
and  the  issue  of  fabulous  invention,  a  thing  wholly  unknown  to  the  fathers  and 
best  writers  of  the  Church,  and  which,  not  only  has  no  just  authority  to  support  it, 
but  arguments  enough  to  beat  it  down"  (Cave's  Lives,  i.,  p.,  270). 

3  John  ii.  1. 

4  Life,  16,  17. 

,5  el-Ghuweir.      It  was  probably  as  the  Saviour  surveyed  this  plain  from  the 
Sea,  that  the  parable  of  the  sower  was  spoken. 


48  THE    LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

and  villages.  It  was,  as  has  been  said,  to  the  Roman  Palestine, 
what  the  manufacturing  districts  are  to  England.  Nowhere,  except 
in  the  metropolis  itself,  could  be  found  a  more  busy  scene  of 
life.  With  the  Hebrew  dwellers  by  this  inland  sea,  there  were  min- 
gled the  Gentile  races  of  Lebanon  and  of  Arabia,  wTith  here  and  there 
Greeks  and  Romans  scattered  among  them.  Here  might  be  seen  the 
heathen  tax-gatherers,  or  publicans,  sitting  by  the  lake  side,  at  the 
receipt  of  custom.  Here  were  the  women  that  were  sinners,  corrupted 
by  Gentile  manners,  or  who  had  come  from  neighbouring  Gentile  cities. 
Here  the  Roman  centurion  quartered  with  his  soldiers,  to  be  near  the 
palaces  of  the  Herodian  princes,  or  to  repress  the  turbulence  of  the 
wild  Galilean  peasantry.  Here  were  the  hardy  boatmen,  preparing 
their  vessels  or  their  nets  to  launch  out  for  a  draught. 

Passing  through  this  busy  scene,  Jesus  went  with  the  disciples,  the 
five  who  had  then  been  called,  to  Cana.  It  was  the  home  of  one  of 
them,  the  guileless  Nathanael,1  whom  Philip  had  brought  to  Jesus 
while  He  was  at  the  Jordan.  The  situation  of  this  town  is  described 
as  fine,  on  the  southern  declivity  of  a  hill,  overlooking  the  plain  el- 
Buttauf.  It  appears  once  to  have  been  a  village  of  considerable  size, 
of  well-built  houses.  There  is  not,  it  is  now  said,  a  habitable  house  in 
the  village.  There  are  traces  about  it  of  high  antiquity,  in  the  cisterns 
and  fragments  of  water-jars  found  there.  It  is  probable  that  it  was 
never  a  place  of  any  considerable  importance.  The  miracle  of  Christ 
caused  its  name  to  be  known,  and  has  preserved  it  from  oblivion. 
In  former  times,  the  house  in  which  the  marriage  feast  was  celebrated, 
and  the  water-pots  themselves  were  exhibited  to  travellers  at  this 
place ;  but  now  the  monks  show  them  at  another  place  (Kefr  Kenna) 
three  miles  north-east  of  Nazareth.2 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  faith  of  John  and  of  his  companions 
was  greatly  strengthened  on  this  occasion.  We  are  expressly  told  that 
His  disciples,  as  well  as  Jesus  Himself,  were  invited  to  the  wedding. 
They  then,  probably  for  the  first  time,  saw  the  manifestation,  or  bursting 
forth  of  His  glory,3  and  partook  of  the  astonishment  of  the  company, 
as  the  water  with  which  the  servants  filled  the  jars  became  wine. 
"  And  His  disciples  believed  on  Him."  They  had  before  believed  on 
the  testimony  of  their  first  master,  John  the  Baptist ;  but  now  they 
could  have  said  to  Him,  as  the  believing  Samaritans  afterwards  said 

1  In  the  lists  of  the  apostles  (Matt  x.  3 ;  Mark  iii.  18  ;  Luke  vi.  14  ;  Acts  i.  13) 
he  is  called  Bartholomew,  never  Nathanael.  St.  John  gives  him  his  real  name  (chap, 
xxi.  2).     Bartholomew  means,  son  of  Tolmai ;  and  he  was  thus  designated  in  the 
lists  of  the  apostles  probably  to  distinguish  him  from  some  other  Nathanael,  for 
whom  it  was  desirable  he  should  not  be  mistaken. 

2  Bob.  Bib.  Kes.,  ii.,  p.  346  ;  Kitto's  Bib.  Cyc. 

3  John  ii.  11. 


THEY  JOIN  CARAVAN  TO  JERUSALEM.  49 

to  the  woman,  or  in  words  similar,  "  We  believe  not  because  of  thy 
saying ;  for  we  ourselves  have  seen  His  glory  manifested,  and  know 
that  this  is  indeed  the  Christ,  the  Saviour  of  the  world."  It  was  with 
John  the  commencement  of  a  series  of  proofs  that  Jesus  was  the 
Messiah,  which  had  their  climax  only  when  He  rose  in  triumph  from 
the  dead. 

From  Cana,  John  went  with  Jesus,  his  mother,  and  his  brethren, 
back  to  the  Sea  of  Tiberias,  to  a  city  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of 
Bethsaida,  Capernaum,  situated  near  its  north-western  shore.  This 
city  subsequently  became,  after  the  rejection  of  our  Lord  at  Nazareth, 
the  principal  place  of  His  residence  in  Galilee,  and  was  probably  favoured 
with  more  of  the  works  and  words  of  Jesus  than  any  other  single 
place.  The  most  eminent  biblical  geographers,  however,  cannot  agree 
as  to  the  precise  location  of  the  place,  which  derived  its  chief  importance 
from  having  become  the  adopted  home  of  the  Saviour.  Robinson  has 
fixed  its  site  at  Khan  Minyeh,  in  the  northern  end  of  the  plain  el- 
Ghuweir.  But  Dr.  Wilson,  Dr.  Thomson,  and  Hitter  fix  it  at  Tell 
Hum.  It  is  gone !  It  has  been  effaced  from  the  earth !  "  And  thou, 
Capernaum,  which  art  exalted  to  heaven,  shalt  be  brought  down  to 
hell."1  Who  or  what  can  stand  before  the  word  of  Him  who  did  not 
strive,  nor  cry, — who  would  not  break  the  bruised  reed  nor  quench  the 
smoking  flax  ?  The  whole  region,  once  filled  with  nourishing  towns, 
has  been  swept  and  desolated  by  Arab  hordes. 

The  occasion  of  this  visit  to  Capernaum  is  not  indicated  in  the 
inspired  narrative ;  but  the  fact  is  mentioned  that  it  continued  but  few 
days.2  There  is  no  intimation  that  He  taught,  or  that  He  performed 
any  miracles  at  this  time.  As  the  passover  was  at  hand,  the  first 
occurring  after  our  Lord  entered  on  His  ministry,  it  is  not  improbable 
He  went  there  for  the  convenience  of  joining  one  of  the  numerous 
parties  of  pilgrims  coming  down  from  Northern  Palestine  and 
Lebanon,  and  gathering,  as  a  convenient  centre,  at  Capernaum,  to  form 
a  caravan  for  a  journey  to  the  capital.  They  came  from  different  and 
distant  cities  and  towns  of  Syria ;  from  the  coast  of  Tyre  and  Sidon  ; 
from  Ba'albek  or  Heliopolis ;  and  from  beneath  the  palm-trees  of 
Damascus ;  all  men  of  one  race,  but  of  various  languages  and 
costumes.  There  are,  doubtless,  representatives  here  from  the  shores 
of  the  Caspian  Sea,  from  within  the  boundaries  of  the  ancient  Persian 
empire,  and  from  the  banks  of  the  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates,  and 
from  all  those  northern  and  north-eastern  countries  to  which  Hebrews 
had  either  been  carried  in  their  captivities,  or  had  emigrated  in 
prosecution  of  their  commercial  enterprises.  Companies  increase  as  the 
pilgrims  draw  near  the  borders  of  the  Holy  Land,  and  are  so  multiplied 
1  Matt.  xi.  23.  2  John  ii.  12. 


50  THE    LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

as  they  arrive  among  the  populous  towns  of  the  plain  of  Gennesaret, 
as  to  form  a  numerous  caravan.  It  was  to  join  one  of  these,  as  may 
be  plausibly  supposed,  that  Jesus  went  with  His  relatives  and  disciples 
to  Capernaum. 

The  most  direct  route  from  Capernaum  to  Jerusalem,  the  route 
through  the  valley  of  the  Jordan,  would  have  been  south,  through 
Bethsaida,  past  Scythopolis,  or  Beth-shean,  to  Succoth  ;  thence  across  the 
Jordan,  and  down  the  east  side  of  the  river  to  a  point  opposite  Jericho, 
and  thence  to  Jerusalem.1  If  this  was  the  route  taken  by  our  Lord 
and  the  company  with  which  He  and  His  friends  joined  themselves, 
then  He  retraced,  in  part  at  least,  the  course  by  which  He  had  recently 
gone  from  the  scene  of  John's  baptism  to  Galilee.  For  the  sake  of  a 
clear  understanding  of  the  influences  to  which  our  young  disciple  was 
now  subjected  from  the  scenes  and  associations  through  which  he 
passed  on  this  journey,  let  us  endeavour  to  follow  him,  in  its  different 
stages,  to  his  entrance  into  the  holy  city.  On  former  similar  occasions 
his  mind  had  not  received  that  spiritual  quickening  which  came  from 
recent  intercourse  with  the  forerunner,  and  from  the  companionship 
he  now  enjoyed  with  the  Lord  Himself. 

The  journey  would  require  from  three  to  four  days.  Great  would  be 
the  change,  as  they  left  the  shores  of  the  lake,  covered  with  an  almost 
tropical  vegetation,  and  entered  on  the  wild  scenery  of  the  Jordan 
valley.  Crossing  the  plain  of  Gennesaret,  some  five  miles  wide,  at  one 
spot  on  the  western  shore,  where  the  mountains  which  hem  in  the 
lake  suddenly  recede,  the  verdure  and  fertility  would  reach  their  per- 
fection. The  barley-fields  would  be  seen  almost  white  to  harvest,  the 
wheat  beginning  to  ear,  and  the  fig-trees  beautiful  with  blossom. 
Watered  by  living  springs  which  pour  forth  copious  streams,  the 
richness  of  the  soil  is  displayed  in  magnificent  corn-fields ;  whilst 
along  the  shore  rises  a  thick  jungle  of  thorn  and  oleander,  abounding 
in  birds  of  brilliant  colours  and  various  forms.  The  whole  impression 
is  said  to  recall  the  image  of  the  valley  of  the  Nile.2  Josephus 
describes  this  plain  as  one  of  surpassing  loveliness  and  fertility, 
possibly  with  some  exaggeration,  as  one  favourable  alike  to  trees, 
plants,  and  fruits  of  every  clime. 

Marvellous  must  have  been  the  change  as  the  pilgrims  descended 
into  the  Jordan  valley.  "  The  desert "  is  the  ordinary  name  by 
which  this  valley  has  been  known  in  all  ages.  Unlike  most  other 
rivers,  the  Jordan,  from  the  point  where  it  leaves  the  Sea  of  Galilee 
to  its  entrance  into  the  Dead  Sea,  presents  not  a  single  feature  of 
civilization.  And  with  the  one  exception  of  Jericho,  situated  some 

1  Coleman's  Hist,  and  Bib.  Geog.,  p.  374. 

2  Stanley's  Sin.  and  Pal.,  p.  374. 


THE    TRANS- JORDAN  1C    COUNTRY.  51 

six  or  eight  miles  west  of  the  river,  in  the  plain,  this  has  been  true  of 
it  from  the  beginning  of  history.  Hardly  a  single  city  or  village  has 
ever  adorned  its  banks.  Leaving  Succoth,  the  pilgrims  would  enter  on 
this  desert  region.  Arriving  at  some  ford  to  which  the  road  leads, 
they  cross  the  river,  and  pursue  their  journey,  thus  avoiding  the 
territory  of  the  hostile  Samaritans  and  the  pagan  cities  of  the  Decapolis. 

It  is  the  land  which,  in  the  partition  of  the  country,  had  been 
assigned  to  the  two  tribes,  Gad  and  Reuben.  It  is  well  adapted  to 
flocks  and  herds.  They  moved  along  between  the  river  and  Mount 
Gilead,  which  cut  them  off  from  the  great  Arabian  plateau  to  the  east. 
It  was  here  that  Laban  overtook  Jacob  ;  and  when  they  separated,  Jacob 
went  on  his  way  to  Mahanaim,  where  the  angels  of  God  met  him.1 
The  Gilead  range  is  everywhere  covered  with  luxuriant  herbage.  The 
rich  pasture-land  presents  a  striking  contrast  to  the  nakedness  of 
Western  Palestine ;  and  nowhere  except  among  the  hills  of  Galilee 
and  the  heights  of  Carmel,  is  there  anything  to  be  compared  with  it. 
Here  the  two  tribes,  Reuben  and  Gad,  rich  in  flocks  and  herds,  and 
with  a  country  so  suited  to  their  pursuits,  retained  almost  unchanged 
the  nomad  pastoral  habits  of  their  patriarchal  ancestors.  Here  the 
sons  of  Saul  were  refugees,  and  found  protection,  while  vainly  en- 
deavouring to  re-establish  the  authority  of  their  house.2  Here 
Elijah  the  Tishbite,  the  great  prophet  of  Ahab's  time,  had  his  home. 
He  has  been  well  described  as  "  the  grandest  and  most  romantic 
character  that  Israel  ever  produced."3  Here  David  found  a  sanctuary 
during  the  rebellion  of  Absalom.  All  these  incidents  would  now  have 
a  significance  to  John  they  never  had  before. 

They  journey  on  till  the  northern  extremity  of  the  mountain  range 
which  overhangs  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Dead  Sea  comes  in  sight.  Here, 
from  the  top  of  Nebo,  the  summit  of  Pisgah,  to  Moses  had  been  granted 
a  view  of  the  promised  land ;  and  somewhere  among  the  gorges  of  this 
spur  of  Abarim,  this  eminent  servant  of  God  had  his  burial.  Some  be- 
longing to  the  tribes  of  Gad  and  Reuben  join  the  caravan  as  it  advances. 
To  the  left  they  see  Heshbon,  where  Herod  the  Great  had  erected  one 
of  his  citadels,  or  strong  military  posts,  as  a  place  of  retreat  from  the 
disaffected  metropolis,4  whose  resentment  he  had  so  much  cause,  on 
account  of  his  continual  crimes,  to  dread.  The  whole  scene  through 
which  they  were  passing  abounded  with  reminiscences  of  the  most 
sacred  character,  belonging  both  to  the  earlier  and  later  periods  of 
Hebrew  history.  We  cannot  suppose  that  the  great  Teacher  could  on 

1  Gen.  xxxii.  1,  2,  22. 

2  2  Sam.  ii.  8,  seq. 

3  Stanley's  Sin.  and  Pal.,  p.  327. 

4  Milman,  Hist,  of  the  Jews,  ii.,  p.  81. 


52  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

such  an  occasion,  in  such  a  company,  pass  through  it  without  tittering 
many  things  for  the  instruction  of  His  disciples.  But  no  record  is 
found  in  the  evangelists  of  any  of  His  words  or  works.  He  per- 
formed many  works  which  John  has  emphatically  told  us  there  had 
been  no  attempt  to  report.1 

They  have  now  arrived  near  that  point,  so  celebrated  in  Jewish 
history,  where  the  passage  of  the  Jordan  was  effected  by  the  tribes, 
under  the  leadership  of  Joshua,  on  taking  possession  of  the  promised 
land.2  A  city  celebrated  in  the  history  of  Palestine  lies  to  the  west  of 
the  river,  built  upon  an  oasis  in  the  desert,  watered  by  living  springs 
that  break  out  of  the  limestone  ranges  above  it,  and  a  copious  stream 
whose  course  through  the  deep  defile  may  be  traced  by  a  line  of  verdure 
along  the  valley.  From  the  mountain  sides  of  Gilead,  as  they  approach 
the  ford,  the  forest  gardens  and  verdant  fields  of  Jericho  must  have 
been  a  most  interesting  and  welcome  feature  in  the  otherwise  forbidding 
landscape.  This  city  stood  at  the  right  of  the  main  pass  or  road  from 
the  Jordan  to  the  south-west  towards  Olivet  and  Jerusalem.  Beautiful 
as  the  spot  is  now,  it  must  have  been  far  more  so  in  the  days  of  its 
prosperity  and  grandeur.  It  was  here  that  one  of  the  great  miracles 
which  attended  the  first  settlement  of  the  Israelites  in  Palestine 
occurred.3  It  was  here  that  the  prophet  Elisha  healed  the  fountain  of 
waters.4  It  was  the  water  which  served  to  convert  this  barren  plain 
almost  into  a  paradise.  The  stream  of  the  Kelt,  issuing  from  a 
ravine,  flowed  across  it ;  and  besides  the  large  fountain  of  Elisha,  there 
was  still  another  further  north.  Within  the  range  of  these  waters  the 
soil  was  exuberant  in  its  fertility.  The  fruits,  spices,  and  perfumes  of 
tropical  climes  could  be  produced  there  in  great  abundance.  Its  palm- 
groves  yielded  the  choicest  of  indigenous  fruits ;  its  balsam-groves  that 
fragrant  balsam,  or  balm  of  Gilead,  which  in  ancient  times  was  so 
highly  esteemed,  both  as  a  perfume  and  a  medicine.  The  revenue  of 
these  balsam-gardens  had  been  presented  by  Antony  to  Cleopatra ;  and 
there  is  a  tradition  that  she  caused  slips  of  the  balsam-shrub  to  be 
taken  to  Egypt,  and  planted  at  Heliopolis.5  It  was  at  Jericho  that 
Herod  the  Great  and  this  famous  queen  met,  and  where  he  seriously 
meditated  putting  her  to  death.  Here  he  built  another  of  those  strong 
citadels  for  refuge  from  an  exasperated  people,  of  whose  vengeance  he 
had  so  much  reason  to  stand  in  dread.  He  built  towers  and  palaces  ; 
and  it  was  evidently  his  favourite  place  of  residence.  It  was  here  he 
died,  and  in  the  amphitheatre  the  news  of  his  death  was  announced  to 
the  assembled  soldiers  and  people.  Such  as  Herod  the  Great  and 

1  John  xxi.  25.  3  Josh.  vi. 

"  Josh.  iv.  1-8.  4  2  Kings  ii.  19-22. 

6  Brocardus,  Descrip.  Ter.  Sanct.,  xiii. 


THE  ROAD  CHEERED  WITH  SONGS.  53 

Arclielaus  had  left  it,  such  was  Jericho  when  Christ  and  the  company 
He  was  with  journeyed  through  it  on  His  way  to  Jerusalem  to  the  first 
passover,  after  the  commencement  of  His  public  ministry.  As  they 
pass  beyond  the  walls,  it  is  to  travel  beneath  the  shade  of  the  syca- 
mores,1 which  for  a  short  distance  skirt  the  Jerusalem  road.  Then  they 
begin  to  climb  the  wild,  dreary  mountains,  the  bare  limestone-hills. 
On  every  side  are  deep,  frightful  ravines,  defiles,  and  gorges.  For 
miles  and  miles  not  a  house  nor  a  tree  even,  it  is  said,  can  now  be 
seen.  In  one  spot  travellers  come  upon  the  remains  of  a  large  khan, 
or  inn.  At  length  a  height  is  reached  from  which  the  first  glimpse  of 
the  line  of  trees  and  houses  on  the  summit  of  Olivet  is  gained.  The 
present  road  lies  by  Bethany,  the  town  of  Mary  and  Martha,  over  the 
south  point  of  Olivet,  into  the  deep  narrow  vale  of  Jehoshaphat,  to  St. 
Stephen's  gate. 

The  Jewish  pilgrims  were  in  the  habit  of  cheering  the  long  and  toil- 
some road  with  songs.  The  fifteen  Psalms,  beginning  with  the  one 
hundred  and  twentieth,  called  "  songs  of  degrees,"  which  are  said  to 
have  been  used  during  the  journeys  to  Jerusalem  at  the  time  of  the 
great  festivals,  might  better  be  described  as  songs  of  up- goings,  with 
reference  to  the  progress  made  in  ascending  the  mountainous  road  to 
Jerusalem,  especially  by  those  who  made  their  approach  by  the  route 
through  the  valley  of  the  Jordan.  How  grand  must  have  been  the 
effect  as  the  voices  of  the  pilgrims  rose,  "  I  will  lift  up  mine  eyes ;  "  or, 
as  some  one  more  devout  than  the  rest  commenced  in  the  shades  of  the 
evening,  or  the  dawn  of  the  morning,  and  then  the  whole  caravan 
joined  in,  "  Unto  the  hills,  from  whence  cometh  my  help ! "  Again  they 
break  out  in  song,  "  I  was  glad  when  they  said  unto  me,  Let  us  go  unto 
the  house  of  the  Lord."  As  they  descry  the  situation  of  Jerusalem, 
they  sing,  "  They  that  trust  in  the  Lord  shall  be  as  mount  Zion.  .  .  . 
As  the  mountains  are  round  about  Jerusalem,  so  the  Lord  is  round  about 
His  people."  As  they  enter  the  gates,  and  march  along  the  streets, 
"  Behold,  how  good  and  how  pleasant  it  is  for  brethren  to  dwell  together 
in  unity."  And  as  they  come  to  the  temple,  "  Behold,  bless  ye  the  Lord, 
all  ye  servants  of  the  Lord,  which  by  night  stand  in  the  house  of  the 
Lord.  The  Lord  that  made  heaven  and  earth  bless  thee  out  of  Zion !  " 

The  young  son  of  Zebedasus  had  never  made  the  journey  to  Jerusalem 
before  in  such  company,  never  under  such  circumstances  and  influences, 
as  now.  He  was  with  the  great  Teacher,  who  no  doubt  availed  Him- 
self often  of  the  opportunity  to  speak  as  never  man  spake  before. 
Never  were  the  sacred  associations  of  the  scenes  through  which  he 
passed,  richer  or  more  significant.  The  splendour  of  Jerusalem,  which, 
after  its  adornment  by  Herod  the  Great,  was  equalled  by  no  citv  of  the 

1  Luke  xix.  4. 


54  THE    LIFE   AND   WEITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

East  except  Antioch,  and  no  city  of  the  West  except  Rome,  set  like  a 
jewelled  crown  on  mountains  towering  thirty-eight  hundred  feet  above 
the  Jordan,  and  twenty -five  hundred  above  the  level  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean, must  have  often  excited  his  admiration  as  he  went  up  in  former 
years  to  the  great  feast.  But  with  what  different  eyes,  especially  with 
his  improved  and  expanding  notions  respecting  the  Messianic  kingdom, 
he  must  have  seen  it  as  it  first  appeared  in  sight  from  the  brow  of 
Olivet,  as  he  journeyed  with  the  KING  OF  ZION  !  The  most  conspicuous 
and  glorious  object  of  all  was  the  temple,  so  enlarged  and  beautified 
by  Herod  the  Great,  who  had  already  greatly  adorned  the  city,  and 
gratified  his  passion  for  sumptuous  building  by  the  erection  of  towers, 
theatres,  and  amphitheatres.  A  new  fabric  of  more  regular  and  stately 
architecture  than  the  old,  which  had  been  much  dilapidated  through 
the  sieges  of  five  hundred  years,  now  crowned  the  brow  of  Moriah  with 
its  glittering  masses  of  white  marble  and  pinnacles  of  gold.1  There 
were  four  immense  towers  at  the  north-west  part  of  the  wall.  There 
stood  the  palace  of  the  Asmoneans,  the  palace  of  Herod,  with  its  lofty 
storeys  and  turrets,  and  other  public  buildings ;  while  the  fortress  of 
Antonia,  rising  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  temple  area,  towered 
above  every  building  within  the  city,  and  formed,  with  the  temple,  the 
most  striking  feature  in  the  view. 

With  Jesus  John  goes  to  the  temple,  and  beholds  that  wonderful 
miracle,  for  it  can  scarcely  be  regarded  as  anything  less,  the  expulsion 
of  the  traders  and  money-changers  from  its  sacred  precincts.2  What 
was  it  but  power  over  the  secret  will  which  made  those  profaners  so 
obedient  to  One  who  came  as  a  Galilean  peasant,  with  no  signs  of 
external  power  ?  It  brought  Him  at  once  conspicuously  before  the 
authorities  and  the  people  who  thronged  to  the  feast.  By  this  act  He 
proclaimed  Himself  the  Son  of  God,  jealous  of  His  Father's  honour.  It 
is  probable  that  the  purification  took  place  on  or  before  the  first  day  of 
the  feast,  at  which  time  the  paschal  lamb  was  offered.  It  pointed  to 
that  purification  which  the  offering  of  the  true  Paschal  Lamb  was 
designed  to  effect  in  the  divine  kingdom.  This  passover  according  to 
Friedlieb  was  on  the  llth,  but  according  to  Greswell  was  on  the  9th,  of 
April.3  If  the  Lord's  baptism  was,  as  has  been  supposed,  early  in 
January,  then  some  three  months  had  intervened,  and  John,  for  about 
half  this  period,  as  our  Lord  was  forty  days  in  the  wilderness  after  His 
baptism,  had  been  under  His  instruction.  What  progress  he  had  made 
since  Jesus  had  been  first  pointed  out  to  him  as  the  Lamb  of  God,  and 
he  had  followed  Him, — especially  within  the  last  few  days,  while 

1  Milman,  Hist,  of  the  Jews,  ii.,  p.  85. 

2  John  ii.  13-17. 

3  Andrews'  Life  of  our  Lord,  p.  152. 


JERUSALEM.       PLAN    OF    WALLS. 


JERUSALEM    AND    THE    TEMPLE.  55 

journeying  through  scenes  so  rich  in  sacred  associations,  and  since  he 
entered  the  holy  city !  He  had  now  heard  Him  say,  in  reference  to 
His  death  and  resurrection,  in  asserting  His  right  to  reform  the  abuses 
of  religion  and  establish  the  true  faith,  in  words  indeed  which  he  did 
not  then  fully  comprehend,  "  Destroy  this  temple,  and  in  three  days  I 
will  raise  it  up."  But  after  His  resurrection  he  understood  that  "  He 
spake  of  the  temple  of  His  body."  1 

However  confused  and  exaggerated  in  some  particulars  may  seem 
the  account  given  by  the  Jewish  historian,  Josephus,  his  topographical 
sketch  of  the  city  and  temple,  as  they  existed  in  his  day,  is  invaluable. 
There  may  be  reason  to  distrust  his  accuracy  when  he  professes  to 
give  exact  details,  measurements  of  heights  and  magnitudes.     These, 
in  many  cases,  were  probably  only  matters  of  estimate  or  conjecture. 
As  a  general  view,  however,  of  the  city  and  temple,  his  description, 
there  can  be  no  doubt,  is  perfectly  reliable.     According  to  this  writer, 
Jerusalem,  except  where  it  was  defended  by  precipitous  and  impassable 
valleys,  on  which  sides  it  had  but  a  single  wall,  was  enclosed  by  a 
triple  wall.2     It  lay  upon  three  hills,  separated  by  intervening  valleys. 
Mount  Zion,  the  highest  of  these  hills,  on  account  of  its  fortifications 
had  been  called  by  King  David,  the  citadel  or  fortress.     The  hill  on 
which  the  lower  city,  containing  the  bazaars,  was  built,  Akra,  had  the 
form  of  the  moon  when  it  is  gibbous,  or  between  the  quarters  and  full 
moon.     The  valley  between  these  two  hills  was  the  Tyropceon,  or  the 
valley  of  the  cheesemongers  ;  it  extended  quite  down  to  a  fountain  of 
sweet  and  abundant  water,  Siloam.      Over  against  Akra,  but  separated 
from  it  by  another  valley,  broader  than  the  Tyropceon,  was  Moriah, 
with  the  temple.     In  the  extreme  part  of  the  upper  city,  or  Zion,  was 
an  open  space  or  park,  called  Xystus,  connected  by  a  bridge  with  the 
temple,  where  the  people  sometimes  assembled  en  masse.     The  single 
wall  which  surrounded  all  those  parts  of  the  city  which  were  defended 
by  precipitous  valleys,  began  at  a  tower  called  Hippicus,  and  extended 
south  to  a  place  called  Bethso,  and  thence,  in  the  same  direction,  to  a 
point  over  Siloam;  then,  turning  east,  terminated  at  the  eastern  portico 
of  the  temple.     The  first,  and  oldest,  of  the  triple  walls  began  at  the 
same  tower,  Hippicus,  and  running  along  the  northern  brow  of  Zion  to 
the  Xystus,  terminated  at  the  western  portico  of  the  temple.     The 
second  encircled  only  the  northern  part  of  the   city,  from   near  the 
tower  of  Hippicus  to  the  castle  of  Antonia.     The  third,  built  after  the 
time  of  Christ,  beginning  at  the  same  tower,  first  ran  northwards,  then 
sweeping  round  towards  the  east,  and  afterwards   towards  the  south, 
was  joined  to  the  ancient  wall  in  the  valley  of  the   Kidron.      On  the 

1  John  ii.  21,  22. 

2  The  third  wall  was  not  built  till  the  year  of  our  Lord  45,  by  Herod  Agrippa. 


56  THE    LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

western  side  of  the  temple  area  were  four  gates, — one  leading  over  the 
valley  to  the  palace  on  Zion,  by  the  bridge  just  mentioned  ;  two  to  the 
suburb  on  the  north ;  and  the  remaining  one  to  the  lower  city  on  Akra, 
first  by  steps  down  into  the  intervening  valley,  and  then  by  an  ascent. 
The  hill,  Bezetha,  lay  quite  near,  on  the  north  of  the  temple.  The  hill 
Moriah,  on  which  was  the  temple,  was  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  city, 
facing  the  Mount  of  Olives,  overlooking  the  valley  of  the  Kidron. 1 
Our  learned  countryman,  Dr.  Robinson,  who  has  investigated  the  topo- 
graphy of  the  modern  city  with  so  much  care  and  patience,  on  the  spot 
itself,  with  the  volumes  of  Josephus  in  his  hands,  is  not  aware  of  any 
particulars  which  can  excite  a  doubt  as  to  the  faithfulness  of  this  his- 
torian and  eye-witness,  in  his  general  description  of  Jerusalem,  or  as 
to  the  identity  of  the  site  of  the  ancient  and  modern  cities.2  The 
valleys  of  the  Tyroposon,  and  that  between  Akra  and  Moriah,  although 
greatly  filled  up,  are  still  distinctly  to  be  traced  ;  while  the  hills  of 
Zion,  Akra,  Moriah,  and  Bezetha,  are  not  to  be  mistaken ;  and  the  deep 
valleys  of  the  Kidron  and  of  Hinnom,  and  the  Mount  of  Olives,  are 
prominent  features,  too  gigantic  to  be  forgotten,  or  undergo  any  per- 
ceptible change.3 

The  temple,  according  to  Josephus'  description,  stood  upon  a  rocky 
eminence,  on  which  there  was  scarcely  level  space  enough  at  first  for 
the  fane  and  the  altar,  the  sides  being  everywhere  steep  and  precipit- 
ous. Solomon  built  a  wall  around  this  summit,  and  then  built  up  a 
wallon  the  east,  filled  in  on  the  inside  apparently  with  earth,  on  which 
he  erected  a  portico,  or  covered  colonnade.  The  temple  itself  was  thus 
left  naked  on  three  sides,  and  stood  out  boldly  to  one  surveying  the 
city  from  Olivet,  or  approaching  it  from  any  direction.  In  process  of 
time  the  whole  enclosure  was  built  up,  and  filled  in  quite  to  a  level 
with  the  hill.  The  enclosure  thus  constructed  was  a  quadrangle, 
measuring  four  stadia,  or  about  half  a  mile,  around  it.  The  interior 
of  this  enclosure  was  surrounded  by  porticos  or  covered  colonnades 
along  the  walls,  and  the  open  part  was  paved  with  variegated  stones. 
This  open  part  was  what  has  been  called  by  Christian  writers  the 
court  of  the  Gentiles.  Near  the  middle  of  this  court  an  ornamental 
wall  or  balustrade  of  stone,  three  cubits  high,  formed  the  boundary  of 
a  smaller  enclosure,  which  neither  Gentiles  nor  the  unclean  might  enter. 
Within  this,  an  inner  wall,  forty  cubits  high  from  its  foundation,  sur- 
rounded the  second  or  inner  court.  It  was  encompassed  on  the  outside 
by  fourteen  steps,  leading  up  to  a  level  area  around  it  of  ten  cubits 
wide,  from  which  again  five  other  steps  led  up  to  the  interior.  The 

1  Jos.  Wars,  v.,  c.  4. 

2  Bib.  Kes.,  i.,  p.  281. 

3  Stanley,  Sin.  and  Pal.,  p.  166,  seq. 


JERUSALEM    AND    THE    TEMPLE.  57 

principal  entrance  of  this  inner  court  was  on  the  east ;  there  were  also 
three  entrances  on  the  northern  side,  and  three  on  the  south.  After- 
wards three  others  were  added  for  the  women,  one  upon  the  north, 
south,  and  east,  respectively.  Within  this  second  court  was  still  the 
third  or  most  sacred  enclosure  of  all,  which  none  but  the  priests  might 
enter,  consisting  of  the  temple  proper,  and  the  small  court  before  it, 
where  stood  the  great  altar.  To  this,  from  the  second  court,  there  was 
an  ascent  by  twelve  steps.  It  was  this  Naos,  or  body  of  the  temple, 
which  was  rebuilt  by  Herod  the  Great,  who  also  built  over  again 
some  of  the  magnificent  porticos  around  the  area.  But  no  mention  is 
made  of  his  having  had  anything  to  do  with  the  massive  walls  of  the 
exterior  enclosure.1  Dr.  Robinson  thinks  it  can  hardly  be  a  matter  of 
question  that  the  area  of  the  present  mosque  of  Omar  occupies  the 
same  location  in  part  or  in  whole. 

Some  idea,  from  this  somewhat  minute  description,  may  now  be 
formed  of  the  scene  that  met  the  eye  of  the  youthful  John,  if  we  sup- 
pose, that,  when  at  Bethany,  instead  of  following  the  road  round  to  the 
valley  of  the  Kidron,  he  took  the  path  across  the  mountain.  From 
the  brow  of  Olivet  all  Jerusalem  lay  before  him.  Mount  Akra,  and 
Bezetha,  covered  with  bazaars  and  houses ;  and  immediately  below  him 
Mount  Moriah,  crowned  with  the  temple,  blazing  in  the  reflection  of  a 
bright  vernal  sun.  The  shape  of  the  city  was  that  of  an  irregular 
oblong.  Mount  Moriah  lies  near  the  middle  of  its  eastern  side,  nearest 
to  Olivet.  About  north-west  from  the  temple  lay  what  was  called  the 
lower  city,  or  Akra.  North,  lay  Bezetha.  At  the  south-west  end  of 
the  city  rose  Mount  Zion,  the  city  of  David.  The  towers  upon  the 
walls  contributed  to  its  imposing  appearance.  The  first  or  old  wall 
had  sixty,  the  second  forty,  and  the  third  ninety.  The  walls,  by  which 
Mount  Moriah  had  been  built  up  and  extended  from  the  valley  below, 
on  the  north,  east,  and  west,  were  450  feet  high  ;  on  the  south  side 
this  wall  rosq  to  the  astonishing  height  of  600  feet.  Some  of  the 
stones  employed  in  building  these  walls  having  a  surface  of  seventy-five 
square  feet.  John  descends  the  mountain :  he  enters  the  city.  From 
the  elevated  top  of  Mount  Zion,  the  upper  city,  he  has  a  nearer  view  of 
the  temple.  As  he  continues  his  walk,  and  enters  the  sacred  enclosure, 
through  the  outer  parapet,  he  sees  the  cloisters,  or  double  porticos,  on 
the  north-east  and  west  sides,  supported  by  162  columns,  on  the  top 
of  which  rested  an  exquisitely  finished  cedar  ceiling.  These  pillars 
were  entire  shafts,  hewn  out  of  solid  marble,  perfectly  white,  forty- four 
feet  high.  On  the  south  side  the  portico  was  triple,  or  had  three  rows 
of  these  marble  pillars.2 

1  Jos.  Ant.,  xv.,  11 ;  Wars,  v.,  5. 

2  Jos.  ibidem.     Salamiel,  pp.  33-52. 


58  THE    LIFE    AND   WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

If  he  entered  as  a  guest  into  any  of  the  houses,  it  was  through  a 
large  gate  or  door,  leading  from  the  narrow  street  to  a  court  or  open 
space,  around  which  the  house  was  built,  and  from  which  it  received 
its  light.  Except  one  latticed  window  or  balcony,  there  are  no  win- 
dows towards  the  street.  Round  this  open  court  are  seats ;  and  per- 
haps a  fountain  plays  in  the  centre.  It  is  paved  with  marble,  and  is 
the  usual  place  for  receiving  guests.  Doors  open  from  it  into  the 
apartments,  and  when  the  house  is  more  than  one  storey,  into  spacious 
chambers,  with  galleries  running  around,  defended  by  balustrades. 
The  streets  of  the  city  are  narrow  and  gloomy,  with  rough  pavement ; 
in  some  places  passing  by  arched  ways,  through  the  edifices  themselves. 

Such  is  the  city,  as  to  its  external  aspect,  into  which  the  young 
disciple  of  Jesus  has  come.  Such  the  scene  which  is  presented  to  his 
view,  as  he  stands  on  Olivet  or  Zion,  or  goes  round  about  the  city 
marking  its  bulwarks,  and  telling  the  towers  thereof.1 

Of  the  miracles  which  Christ  performed  during  his  brief  stay  in 
Jerusalem  at  this  time,  and  of  which  St.  John  must  have  been  a  wit- 
ness, no  particular  mention  is  made  by  any  of  the  evangelists. 
It  is  simply  recorded  that  "  many  believed  in  His  name,  when  they  saw 
the  miracles  which  He  did."  2  John  gives  an  account  of  the  deep  im- 
pression upon  the  mind  of  a  member  of  the  Sanhedrin,  a  learned  doctor, 
named  Nicodemus.  For  the  sake  of  a  more  unrestrained  and  private  inter- 
view, this  man  came  to  Jesus  by  night.  What  Nicodemus  had  seen  and 
heard  of  His  miraculous  power  had  convinced  him  that  Jesus  was  "  a 
teacher  come  from  God."  There  is  nothing  improbable  in  the  supposi- 
tion that  John,  who  had  accompanied  Jesus  to  Jerusalem,  was  present 
on  this  occasion.  How  impressive  the  sight  when  this  master  in 
Israel,  with  grave  and  venerable  aspect,  approached  the  young  Teacher, 
to  listen  to  His  wondrous  words  !  John,  too,  could  hear  them,  and  hear 
the  soughing  of  the  wind  among  the  mountains,  to  which  the  rabbi's 
attention  was  directed,  as  the  Lord  instructed  him  on  the  mysterious 
subject  of  the  nature  and  necessity  of  regeneration.  He  heard  him  say 
"  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  of 
the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  That  which  is 
born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh;  and  that  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  spirit." 
He  heard  Him  say,  "And  as  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilder- 
ness, even  so  must  the  Son  of  man  be  lifted  up ;  that  whosoever  be- 
lieveth  in  Him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life.  For  God 
so  loved  the  world,  that  He  gave  His  only  begotten  Son,  that  whoso- 
ever believeth  in  Him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life.  For 
God  sent  not  His  Son  into  the  world  to  condemn  the  world ;  but  that 
the  world  through  Him  might  be  saved."  3  And  how  could  such 
1  Ps.  xlviii.  12,  13.  "  Jolm  ii.  23.  *  John  iii.  5-16. 


THE    RURAL    PARTS    OF   JUD^A.  59 

words  as  these,  as  they  fell  from  the  lips  of  Him  who  spake  as  never 
man  spake,  be  listened  to  bj  a  man  of  so  susceptible  a  nature  as  the 
young  disciple,  without  making  the  deepest  impression  ?  As  John 
alone  of  the  evangelists  records  the  interesting  conversation  with 
Nicodemus,  the  reason  may  be  that  he  alone  was  present.  And  the 
same  may  be  true  as  it  regards  some  of  the  other  discourses  he  alone 
records.  Matthew  had  not  been  called  as  yet  to  the  apostleship.  We 
know  that  St.  John  was  one  of  the  three  disciples  who  were  admitted 
to  a  closer  intimacy,  and  were  more  constantly  with  Jesus.  Neither  of 
the  other  two  was  the  author  of  a  Gospel. 

Jesus  does  not  appear  at  this  time  to  have  remained  long  in  Jeru- 
salem, but  went  into  Judaea,1  i.e.,  into  the  rural  districts  adjacent,  or 
into  the  province  of  Judasa  in  distinction  from  the  city,  doubtless  re- 
turning to  Jerusalem  to  attend  the  great  feasts  of  Pentecost  and  of 
Tabernacles.  John  accompanied  Him,  and  with  his  fellow-disciples 
engaged  in  his  first  public  work,  that  of  baptizing,  no  doubt  under  the 
direction  of  Jesus,  for  "Jesus  Himself  baptized  not,  but  His  disciples."  2 
As  John,  and  Andrew,  and  Peter,  and  perhaps  Philip  and  Nathanael, 
had  been  the  disciples  of  John  the  Baptist,  when  such  great  multitudes 
flocked  to  him  to  be  baptized,  the  rite  was  not  new  to  them.  John  the 
Baptist  was  still  prosecuting  his  work,  but  had  left  the  Jordan,  and 
come  also  to  ^Enon  near  to  Salim.3  The  Pharisaic  party,  not  under- 
standing the  relation  between  Jesus  and  His  forerunner,  and  judging 
them  according  to  the  ordinary  principles  of  human  nature,  sought  to 
stir  up  jealousy  between  the  parties.  This  was  the  occasion  when 
John  the  Baptist  uttered  that  testimony  which  John  the  Evangelist  re- 
cords,4 than  which  nothing  can  be  nobler  or  finer.  The  evangelist  was 
evidently  once  more  within  the  sound  of  his  old  master's  spirit-stirring 
voice,  when  these  grand  words  were  uttered. 

John  was  at  this  time  absent  from  Galilee  with  Jesus  about  two 

1  John  iii.  22. 

2  John  iv.  2. 

3  John  iii.  23.     As  the  passage,  as  it  stands  in  the  evangelists,  seems  to  require 
that  this  place  should  be  found,  not  only  at  a  distance  from  the  Jordan,  but  in 
Judaa,  there  is  reason  to  believe  Dr.  Barclay  (1858)  has  discovered  ^JEnon  at  Wady 
Farah,  a  secluded  valley  about  five  miles  north-east  of  Jerusalem.     Here  are  very 
copious  springs  (vdara  TroXXct),  and  the  name  Selom,  or  Seleim,  the  appellation  of 
another    wady  close  by.     If  John  was  baptizing  near   Scythopolis,  according  to 
Jerome  (Onomasticon,  under  ^non  and  Salem)  and  Thomson  (Land  and  Book,  ii., 
176),  or  near  to  Nablus,  according  to  Eobinson  (Bib.  Ees.,  ii.,  279  ;  iii.,  298),  i.e.,  in 
Samaria,  it  seems  strange  that  the  passage,  John  iii.  23,  should  be  found  where  it 
is  in  the  narrative,  i.e.,  before  Jesus  and  His  disciples  had  left  Judaea.  The  narrative 
plainly  demands  that  ^Enon  should  be  found  in  Judasa,  in  the  same  region  where 
Jesus  and  His  disciples  were  then  baptizing. 

4  John  iii.  27-36. 


60  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OP    ST.  JOHN. 

thirds  of  a  year.  He  arrived  in  Jerusalem  in  April ;  and  the  return 
journey  must  have  been  made  in  December,  or  the  latter  part  of  Novem- 
ber.1 We  have  no  minute  account  of  the  manner  in  which  these 
months  were  employed ;  how  many  parts  of  Judssa  were  explored ; 
whether  the  place  of  His  nativity,  Bethlehem,  was  visited ;  whether  it 
was  at  tbis  time  Jesus  formed  His  intimacy  with  the  family  at  Bethany; 
what  may  have  happened  at  the  feasts  of  Pentecost  and  of  Tabernacles  ; 
what  discourses  were  delivered,  what  miracles  were  performed.  Here 
are  months  in  the  Lord's  brief  ministry  of  almost  unwritten  history. 
That  He  was  constantly  engaged  in  doing  good,  there  can  be  no  doubt. 
His  favoured  disciple  was  constantly  with  Him. 

Jesus  hears  of  the  imprisonment  of  John  the  Baptist,  and  it  deter- 
mines His  departure  for  Galilee.2  As  this  journey  was  made  in  the 
direction  of  Nazareth,  and  from  the  vicinity  of  Jerusalem,  we  cannot 
doubt  as  to  the  particular  route  taken.  It  was  not  now  by  the  valley 
of  the  Jordan.  Jerusalem  rested  on  the  southern  edge  of  a  grand  and 
lofty  plateau,  which  occupies  the  entire  area  of  Central  Palestine,  inter- 
rupted only  by  the  valley  of  Esdraelon,  crossing  it  midway  between  its 
northern  and  southern  extremity.  Along  the  summit  of  this  moun- 
tainous tract  lay  in  ancient  times,  as  now,  the  great  road  leading  from 
Jerusalem  through  Samaria  into  Galilee.  Dr.  Robinson,  in  passing  over 
this  route,  to  his  surprise  came  upon  traces  of  an  ancient  paved  road, 
similar  to  the  Roman  roads,  probably  a  military  way,  the  pavement  re- 
maining entire  for  a  considerable  distance.3  The  country  wears  a  sterile, 
desolate  aspect.  Twelve  miles  from  Jerusalem,  the  travellers  reach 
Bethel,  a  spot  around  which  cluster  so  many  sacred  associations. 
Yet  the  whole  region  around  it  is  said  to  be  bleak  and  forbidding  in 
aspect,4  and  the  surface  so  covered  with  stones  that  Jacob  could  scarcely 
have  discovered  a  spot  where  a  pillow  could  not  easily  be  made  ready 
for  his  head.5  Three  or  four  acres  of  ruins  mark  the  site  of  this  ancient 

1  John  iv.  35.      Seedtime  fell  in  the  beginning  of  November,  so  that  the  fields 
were  already  giving  promise  of  harvest.     According  to  Lev.  xxiii.  5-7,  etc.,   and 
Jos.  Antiq.,  iii.,  10  (5),  the  firstfruits  of  the  barley-harvest  were  presented  on  the 
second  day  of  the  paschal  week.     The  wheat-harvest  was  two  or  three  weeks  later. 
On  the  chronological  value  of  the  passage,  see  Eobinson's  Greek  Harmony,  p.  189, 
and  Wieseler's  Chron.  Synopse,  p.  214. 

2  Matt.  iv.  12. 

3  Bib.  Ees.,  ii.,  p.  262. 

4  Kob.  Bib.  Res.,  i.,  p.  448. 

5  Gen.  xxviii.  11.    Among  the  great  lessons  of  the  significant  vision  granted  here 
to  the  patriarch,  "  a  ladder  set  up  on  the  earth,  and  the  top  of  it  reached  to  heaven, 
and  behold  the  angels  of  God  ascending  and  descending  upon  it  "  (Gen.  xxviii.  12), 
was  this :  that  the  servants  of  God,  wherever  they  are,  wherever  they  rest  or  wander, 
whether  in  sickness  or  health,  whether  in  joy  or  sorrow,  are  the  objects  of  His  care 
and  love,  and  He  exerts  a  special  providence  in  their  behalf.     There  is  great  com- 


CENTRAL    PALESTINE.  61 

place.  To  the  eastward  rises  a  lofty  hill,  on  the  summit  of  which  was 
the  parting  scene  between  Abraham  and  Lot ;  and  where,  after  Lot's 
departure,  the  Lord  said  to  Abraham,  "  Lift  up  now  thine  eyes,  and 
look;  ...  all  the  land  which  thou  seest,  to  thee  will  I  give  it."1 
In  the  surrounding  cliffs  are  many  rock-hewn  tombs,  the  same  doubt- 
less that  existed  in  the  days  of  king  Josiah.2  It  was  through  this 
interesting  region,  where  every  summit  seemed  to  be  a  memento  of 
what  was  sacred  in  the  past,  and  the  valleys  still  to  be  echoing  with  the 
voice  of  God  and  the  words  of  patriarchs  and  prophets,  that  John  was 
now  passing  in  company  with  the  great  Teacher.  The  narrow  territory 
of  Benjamin  is  soon  crossed,  and  they  come  to  the  hills  known  as  "  the 
mountains  of  Ephraim,"  the  central  mass  in  this  hilly  range,  nearly 
equidistant  from  the  northern  and  southern  boundary  of  Palestine. 
Here  the  rocky  soil  begins  to  be  broken  into  plains,  in  the  heart  of  the 
mountains,  and  to  be  diversified  with  running  streams  and  stretches 
of  vegetation.  The  road  is  picturesquely  wooded.  The  change  is  so 
marked  coming  from  among  the  sterile  hills  of  Judah  and  Benjamin 
that  it  is  no  wonder  they  should  have  been  styled  "  the  smiling  hills  of 
Ephraim."3  It  leads  on  by  the  ancient  Gophna  of  Josephus  and 
Ptolemy,  a  name  which  does  'not  appear  in  Scripture,  unless  it  may  be 
the  same  as  Ophni.4 

The  next  place  of  special  interest  in  sacred  history  reached  on  this 

fort  and  strength  to  the  good  man  in  the  thought  that  this  providence  of  God  is 
over  and  around  us. 

(Mr.  Charles  Scribner,  the  founder  of  the  publishing  house,  New  York,  that  still 
bears  his  name,  died  amid  the  mountains  of  Switzerland,  at  Lucerne,  Aug.  26,  1871. 
He  went  abroad  for  the  recovery  of  health,  which  seemed  for  a  time  to  be  greatly 
benefited,  but  here  fell  a  victim  to  typhoid  fever.  Heaven  was  as  near  as  if  he  had 
laid  himself  down  to  that  last  sleep  beneath  his  own  roof.  Those  huge  mountain- 
piles  on  which  he  looked  out  from  the  cottage  window  'may  have  helped  his  dying 
vision  to  see  the  ladder  Jacob  saw,  reaching  as  steps  or  stairs  to  the  very  gate  of 
heaven.  At  his  funeral  was  sung : — 


There  let  the  way  appear 
Steps  unto  heaven ; 

All  that  Thou  sendest  me, 
In  mercy  given  : 


Angels  to  beckon  me 
Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee, 
Nearer  to  Thee  !  " 


He  was  a  good  man,  of  singular  purity  and  unworldliness  of  character.  He  pos- 
sessed admirable  judgment,  and  his  finished  education  and  refined  taste  qualified 
him  in  an  eminent  degree  for  the  profession  he  adopted.  But  it  was  his  con- 
scientiousness, his  humble,  unostentatious  piety  which  imparted  to  his  character 
its  singular  attraction.  He  was  modest  and  humble,  true  and  faithful  to  his 
friends.) 

1  Gen.  xiii.  14. 

2  2  Kings  xxiii.  16. 

3  De  Pressense's  Life  of  Christ,  p.  296. 

4  Josh,  xviii.   24. 


62  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

road,  is  Shiloh,  It  was  the  sanctuary  of  the  nation,  or  the  place  where 
the  ark  remained,  from  the  time  of  Joshua  to  Samuel ;  and  it  was  the 
great  sanctuary  of  the  house  of  Joseph  during  the  whole  period  of 
their  supremacy;  yet  from  the  days  of  Jerome,  until  the  spot  was  identi- 
tified  by  Dr.  Robinson1  in  1838,  the  site  of  Shiloh  was  completely  for- 
gotten, and  its  name  transferred  to  Gibeou.  It  was  here  Samuel  was 
dedicated  to  God,  and  His  childhood  spent  in  the  sanctuary,  and  a  feast 
was  held  to  the  Lord  yearly.  And  it  was  here  the  last  general  division 
of  the  land  was  made  among  the  tribes. 

From  the  hills  amongst  which  Shiloh  is  secluded,  our  travellers 
descend  into  a  wide  plain,  described  as  the  wildest  and  most  beautiful 
of  the  Ephraimite  mountains.  From  the  midst  of  the  fields,  unbroken 
by  boundary  or  hedge,  start  up  olive  trees,  unenclosed  as  the  fields  in 
which  they  stand.  When  Dr.  Robinson  passed  along  here,  in  the  mid- 
dle of  June,  "the  fields  of  millet  were  green  and  beautiful."  Over 
the  hills,  which  close  the  northern  end  of  this  plain,  far  away  in  the 
distance,  is  caught  the  first  glimpse  of  the  snowy  ridge  of  Hermon.  Its 
western  side  is  bounded  by  the  abutments  of  two  mountain-ranges, 
running  from  west  to  east.  These  ranges  are  Gerizim  and  Ebal.2  In 
the  opening  between  them  was  the  site  of  ancient  Shechem.  Nabulus, 
a  corruption  of  Neapolis,  the  "  New  Town,"  founded  by  Vespasian,  after 
the  ruin  of  Shechem,  now  occupies  the  site,  or  very  nearly  the  same  site. 
It  is  a  long  and  narrow  city,  stretching  close  by  the  north-east  base  of 
Mount  Gerizim,  in  a  small  deep  valley,  half  an  hour  distant  from  the 
great  eastern  plain.  Keeping  the  road  along  its  northern  side,  the 
traveller  passes  some  high  mounds,  apparently  of  ashes  ;  where  all  at 
once  the  ground  sinks  down  to  a  valley  running  towards  the  west,  with 
a  soil  of  rich  black  vegetable  mould.  Here  a  scene  of  luxuriant  and 
almost  unparalleled  verdure  bursts  upon  the  view.  The  whole  valley  is 
filled  with  gardens  and  orchards  of  all  kinds  of  fruits,  watered  by 
fountains  which  burst  forth  in  various  parts,  and  flow  westward  in 
refreshing  streams.  It  breaks  upon  the  view  like  a  scene  of  fairy 

1  It  was  not  a  city,  but  the  "  camp  of  Shiloh  "  (Jud.  xxi.  12).     It  was  the  last 
encampment,  or  the  "  last  relic  of  the  nomad  existence  of  the  chosen  people."     In 
the    rabbinical  traditions  the  sanctuary  was  described   as  "  a  structure  of  low 
stones,  with  a  tent   drawn  over  the  top;  "   Mishna  (ed.  Surenhusius),  vol.  v.,  59. 
When  the  sanctuary  was  removed,  the  place  was  deserted,  and  became  desolate  to 
a  proverb,  Jer.  vii.  12,  14  ;  xxvi.  6.     It  is  the  careful  manner  in  which  the  location 
is  specified  in  the  Scriptures  which  enabled  Dr.  Kobinson  to  discover  it.     Judges 
xxi.  19;   Bib.  Ees.,  ii.,  p.  269  ;  Stanley's  Sinai  and  Palestine,  p.  233. 

2  Deut.  xi.  26-29.    The  blessing  was  to  be  on  Mount  Gerizim,  the  curse  on  Mount 
Ebal.      This  was  accomplished  by  half  the  tribes  standing  on  one  mount,  and  half 
on  the  other;   those  on  Gerizim  affirming  blessings,  and  those  on  Ebal  curses,  as 
pronounced  by  the  Levites  who  stood  with  the  ark  in  the  valley  below.   Deut. 
xxvii.  11-26. 


AMONG    THE    SAMARITANS.  63 

enchantment.  Nothing  is  seen  to  compare  with  it  in  all  Palestine.1 
The  traveller  who  approaches  this  valley  from  the  richer  scenery  of  the 
north,  is  no  less  struck  by  it  than  those  who  contrast  it  with  the  barren 
hills  of  JudaBa.  "  The  awful  gorge  of  the  Leontes  is  grand  and  bold  be- 
yond description.  The  hills  of  Lebanon  over  against  Sidon  are 
magnificent  and  sublime.  The  valley  of  the  hill  of  Naphtali  is  rich  in 
wild  oak  forest  and  brushwood.  Those  of  Asher,  Wady-Kara,  for  exam- 
ple, present  a  beautiful  combination  of  wood  and  mountain- stream, 
in  all  the  magnificence  of  undisturbed  originality.  .  .  .  Carmel, 
with  its  wilderness  of  timber  trees  and  shrubs,  of  plants  and  bushes, 
still  answers  to  its  ancient  reputation  for  magnificence.  But  the 
vale  of  Shechem  differs  from  them  all.  Here  there  is  no  wilderness ; 
here  there  are  no  wild  thickets;  yet  there  is  always  verdure,  always 
shade,  not  of  the  oak,  the  terebinth,  and  the  carob-tree,  but  of  the  olive 
grove,  so  soft  in  colour,  so  picturesque  in  form,  that  for  its  sake  we  can 
willingly  dispense  with  all  other  wood.  Here  there  are  no  impetuous 
mountain  torrents,  yet  there  is  water ;  water,  too,  in  more  copious  sup- 
plies than  anywhere  else  in  the  land,  and  it  is  just  to  its  many  foun- 
tains, rills,  and  watercourses,  that  the  valley  owes  its  exquisite 
beauty."2 

It  was  into  this  beautiful  valley  that  Jesus  on  His  way  to  Galilee 
came  with  His  disciples.  They  were  now  in  Samaria,  among  a  people 
between  whom  and  the  Jews  were  no  friendly  relations.  The  name, 
Samaritan,  was  a  term  of  reproach  among  the  Jews ;  and  the  town  of 
Shechem,  or  Sichem,  probably  in  consequence  of  the  contempt  of  the 
Jewish  common  people,  went  by  the  name  of  Sychar.3  To  this  city, 
or  to  the  well  near  it,  known  as  Jacob's  well,  which  Dr.  Robinson 
found  to  be  about  thirty-five  minutes  distant  from  the  present  city, 
Jesus,  wearied  with  travelling  over  the  mountains  of  Ephraim.  came 

1  Bib.  Ees.,  ii.,  p.  275. 

2  C.  W.  M.  Van  de  Velde,  late  Lieut.  Dutch  K.N.,  i.,  p.  386. 

3  Land  and  Book,  ii.,  p.  206.     An  interesting  statement  has  recently  been  made 
public.     It  is  contained  in  a  letter  of  the  Eev.  C.  H.  Payson,  of  New  York,  travel- 
ling in  Palestine,  dated  April  6th,  1873.      The  Kev.  J.  El  Karey,  who  is  a  native  of 
Samaria,  partly  Jew,  partly  Arab  by  birth,  and  now  by  faith  a  Christian,  has  been 
successfully  labouring  at  Nabulus,  for  the  last  five  years,  under  the  auspices  of  an 
English  missionary  society,  as  a  missionary  physician.      Discovering  in  the  syna- 
gogue at  Nabulus,  a  record  kept  by  the  priests,  that  reaches  back  hundreds  of  years 
before  Christ,   containing  an  account  of  interesting  events   connected  with  the 
synagogue,  it  occurred  to  him  to  search  this  record,  to  see  if  it  contained  any  re- 
ference to  this  visit  of  Christ.     He  ascertained  that  the  name  of   the  leading 
priest  in  the  time  of  Christ  was  Shaffer  ;  he  did  not  find,  however,  what  he  sought, 
but  was  rewarded  by  the  discovery  of  this  statement:—"  In  the  19th  year  of  my 
priesthood,  and  the  4281st  year  of  the  world,  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  Son  of  Mary,  was 
crucified  at  Jerusalem." 


64  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OP   ST.  JOHN. 

and  rested,  while  His  disciples  went  into  the  city  to  purchase  food.  l 
It  was  the  first  spot  on  which  Abraham  halted,  when  he  came  into  the 
land  which  God  had  promised  to  give  him,2  and  where  he  built  the  first 
altar  to  the  true  God.  At  the  mouth  of  the  valley  in  which  Shechem 
was  built,  the  traveller  of  to-day  may  see  a  white  Mussulman  chapel, 
which  covers  the  alleged  tomb  of  Joseph,  in  the  parcel  of  ground 
which  his  father  Jacob  bequeathed  to  him.  Near  it  a  few  fragments 
of  stone  show  the  place  of  Jacob's  well.  A  large  stone  covers  or  fills 
its  mouth,  and  it  is  choked  by  the  ruins  that  have  fallen  into  it.  Of 
the  special  localities  made  sacred  by  the  visit,  the  discourses,  and  the 
miracles  of  Jesus,  it  is  almost  the  only  one  absolutely  undisputed. 
Dr.  Robinson  thinks  we  may  rest  with  confidence  in  the  opinion  that 
this  is  Jacob's  well,  and  here  was  the  parcel  of  ground  which  Jacob 
gave  to  his  son  Joseph ;  and  that  here  the  Saviour  taught  the  Samari- 
tan woman.  Here  he  had  halted,  at  a  distance  of  some  thirty-five 
miles  from  Jerusalem,  as  travellers  still  halt,  on  this  same  great 
thoroughfare,  by  the  side  of  the  well.  Up  that  narrow  valley,  His 
disciples  leaving  Him,  wend  their  way  to  the  city,  to  obtain  food.  As 
He  was  sitting  there,  a  woman,  in  the  cool  of  the  early  morning,3  came 
with  her  pitcher  to  draw  water.  He  entered  into  conversation  with  her. 
Far  and  wide  around  them  extended  the  noble  plain  of  waving  corn. 
The  vale  was  musical  with  the  songs  of  thousands  of  birds.4  Above 
them,  as  they  talked,  on  one  hand,  rose  to  the  altitude  of  some  800 
feet  Gerizim,  crowned  by  the  temple,  of  which  vestiges  still  remain, 
where  the  Samaritans  said  men  ought  to  worship,  and  to  which,  after 
so  many  centuries,  their  descendants  still  turn  as  to  the  only  sacred 
spot  in  the  wide  world  ; 5  and  on  the  other,  to  about  the  same  height, 
the  somewhat  steeper  and  less  watered  Ebal,  from  which  the  words  of 
the  curse  were  spoken.  The  light  of  the  rising  sun  was  fast  dis- 
persing the  shadows  they  cast  over  the  valley  that  lay  between. 

While  the  conversation  with  the  woman  was  going  on,  John  and 
his  fellow-disciples  were  absent  in  the  city.     In  consequence  of  the 

1  Johniv.  3-6. 

2  Gen.  xii.  6. 

3  "Qpa  f/v  wcret  eKTrj,  i.e.,  the  hour  was  somewhere  about  the  sixth  hour.    If  John 
adopts  the  Roman  horology  here,  as  he  evidently  does  in  other  instances,  this 
must  have  been  at  an  early  hour  in  the  morning,  between  six  and  seven  o'clock, 
after  a  journey  which  had  been  prosecuted  during  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
preceding  night.     It  could  not  have  been  at  evening,  for  the  sun  at  Nabulus  would 
set  at  the  end  of  November,  not  far  from  five  o'clock,  and  at  six  in  that  country 
of  brief  twilight,  it  would  have  been  quite  dark.      A  night-journey,  so  common 
among  travellers  in  Palestine  at  the  present  day,  would  account  for  the  fatigue  of 
our  Lord. 

4  Land  and  Book,  ii.,  p.  203. 

5  Stanley's  Palestine,  p.  242. 


THE    WONDERFUL    RESULT.  65 

mortal  hatred  between  the  Jews  and  the  Samaritans,  there  was  no 
little  peril,  and  it  therefore  required  courage  in  this  little  band  of  the 
followers  of  Jesus  to  venture  within  the  city.  The  long-continued 
animosity  had  been  deepened  by  what  had  happened  some  years  before, 
under  the  government  of  Coponius.  During  the  feast  of  the  passover 
a  company  of  Samaritans,  entering  Jerusalem  by  night,  had  at- 
tempted to  interrupt  the  solemnity,  by  profaning  the  sanctuary  with 
human  bones.  This  explains  the  astonishment  of  the  woman  that 
Jesus  should  address  her,  and  ask  a  favour  of  her,  as  well  as  that 
of  the  disciples  when  they  returned  with  the  food  they  had  purchased, 
and  found  their  Master  engaged  in  conversation  with  her.  Jesus 
must  have  communicated  to  John,  who  alone  records  the  details  of  the 
interview  with  the  woman,  this  part  of  this  interesting  episode  in  His 
ministry. 

While  the  woman  hastened  into  the  city  to  invite  the  people  to  come 
out  and  see  a  man  who  had  told  her  all  the  things  that  ever  she  did,  the 
Saviour  addressed  His  disciples,  and  made  use  of  an  expression  which 
indicates  the  season  of  the  year,  "  Say  not  ye,  There  are  yet  four 
months,  and  then  cometh  the  harvest  ? "  From  the  form  of  the  ex- 
pression, we  infer  that  the  harvest  was  yet  four  months  distant.  And 
as  the  harvest  had  its  legal  commencement,  when  a  sheaf  of  the  first- 
fruits  was  to  be  waved  before  the  Lord,  about  the  first  of  April,  if  we 
count  back  four  months,  we  obtain  the  last  of  November,  or  the  first 
of  December,  as  the  time  when  this  visit  was  made  by  Jesus  to 
Samaria. 

Such  was  the  effect  of  the  woman's  report  on  her  countrymen,  and 
of  the  discourses  which  they  themselves  heard  from  Him,  that  He  re- 
mained there  two  days,  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  the  Samaritans ; 
and  many  believed  on  Him.  A  most  wonderful  result !  With  what 
amazement  must  John  and  his  companions  have  contemplated  it ! 

Leaving  Shechem,the  Saviour  and  His  disciples  journeyed  on  through 
the  valley,  which  presents  on  every  side  a  beautiful  and  inviting  land- 
scape of  green  hills  and  dales,  ornamented  with  olive-groves  and 
fountains.  At  the  distance  of  two  hours'  travel,  they  pass  the  city  of 
Samaria,  the  ancient  capital  of  the  ten  tribes.  Here  was  the  scene  of 
many  of  the  miracles  and  acts  of  the  great  prophets,  Elijah  and 
Elisha.  It  occupied  a  situation  of  great  strength,  beauty,  and  fertility 
combined.  It  was  built  on  a  large  isolated  hill,  rising  by  successive 
terraces,  at  least  six  hundred  feet  above  the  valleys  that  surround  it. 
From  the  topmost  terrace,  far  away  over  the  rich  plains  and  hills,  can 
be  descried  the  blue  Mediterranean.1  But  they  press  on  through  the 
valley  of  Jezreel,  remarkable  as  the  scene  of  great  battles,  and  by  the 
1  Thomson's  Land  and  Book,  ii.,  pp.  197,  198. 

F 


66  THE    LIFE    AND   WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

lofty  ridge  now  known  as  Little  Hermon.  The  hills  of  Central  Pales- 
tine descend  on  the  north,  through  long  broken  passes,  to  the  great 
plain  of  Esdraelon.  Through  these  passes  the  lines  of  communication 
must  have  run  between  the  north  and  south ;  and  by  one  of  them 
Jesus  and  His  little  band  of  followers  must  have  journeyed,  skirting 
the  western  side  of  the  plain,  until  they  arrive  at  Nazareth,  the  place 
where  He  had  passed  the  years  of  His  childhood  and  youth. 

NAZARETH  !  one  of  the  most  interesting  spots  to  the  Christian,  on 
the  face  of  the  earth,  but  once  so  obscure  and  unimportant  that  it  is 
not  named  in  the  Old  Testament,  nor  even  by  Josephus,  who  shows  the 
most  intimate  knowledge  of  the  whole  region,  but  seems  to  be  totally 
ignorant  of  the  existence  of  this  place.1  The  residence  of  the  Son  of 
man  in  it  for  thirty  years,  has  imparted  to  it  all  the  history  it  has  in 
the  annals  of  the  world ;  a  history  which  might  well  be  coveted  by  the 
most  renewed  city  on  earth !  The  same  great  features  and  outlines 
and  glorious  works  of  nature,  with  which  the  Saviour  was  familiar 
may  still  be  seen  there.  The  narrow  vale,  on  the  side  of  which  the 
village  is  built,  extending  up  the  steep  mountain  back  of  it,  of  course 
remains  very  much  as  it  was  then.  The  same  fountain  to  which  the 
young  Jesus  came,  still  supplies  the  pitchers  of  the  children  of  Naza- 
reth. Shut  in  by  swelling  eminences,  gently-rounded  hills  rising 
round  it,  as  if  to  guard  it  from  intrusion,  Nazareth  itself  must  have 
always  been  wanting  in  prospects  and  distant  views.2  The  carpenter's 
Son  would  have  to  climb  the  western  hill,  rising  at  least  some  five 
hundred  feet  above  the  bottom  of  the  wady,  to  catch  a  view  of  the 
distant  sea,  and  breathe  its  fresh  breezes.  From  thence  his  eye 
might  rove  over  a  vast  expanse  of  sacred  scenery.  On  the  south- 
east Tabor  rises  with  its  rounded  dome ;  Hermon's  white  top  in  the 
distant  north ;  Carmel  and  the  Mediterranean  Sea  to  the  west ;  and  in 
the  nearer  prospect,  on  the  west,  overhanging  the  plain  of  Acre,  the 
town  of  Sepphorieh,  the  Roman  capital  of  the  province,  where  Herod 
held  his  court.3  "  Here  the  Prince  of  Peace  looked  down  upon  the 

1  "  There  is  a  sort  of  latent  beauty  and  appropriateness  in  tfce  arrangement  by 
which  He  who  made  all  things  out  of  nothing  should  Himself  come  forth  to  the 
world  out  of  a  place  that  had  no  history.     Within  the  last  hundred  years,  Naza- 
reth has  gradually  grown  in  size,  and  risen  into  importance,  until  it  has  become 
the  chief  town  of  this  district.     It  is  now  larger  and  more  prosperous  than  in  any 
former  period  in  its  history,  and  is  still  enlarging.     The  present  population  must 
exceed  three  thousand.     The  present  growth  of  Nazareth  is  mainly  owing  to  the 
unchecked  inroads  of  the  Arabs,  from  beyond  Jordan,  which  has  rendered  it  un- 
safe to  reside   in  Beisan.   and  on  the  great  plain  of   Esdraelon  "  (Dr.  Thomson's 
Land  and  Book,  ii.,  p.  129). 

2  Land  and  Book,  ii.,  p.  131. 

8  Or  Seffurieh ;  obviously  the  Sepphoris  of  Josephus  and  Tsippori  of  the  rab- 
bins. It  is  not  mentioned  in  Scripture.  It  was  rebuilt  and  fortified  by  Herod 


REJECTED   AT    NAZARETH.  67 

great  plain,  where  the  din  of  battles  so  oft  had  rolled,  and  the  gar- 
ments of  the  warrior  been  dyed  in  blood  ;  and  He  looked  out,  too, 
upon  that  sea  over  which  the  swift  ships  were  to  bear  the  tidings  of 
His  salvation  to  nations,  and  to  continents  then  unknown.  How  has 
the  moral  aspect  of  things  been  changed !  Battles  and  bloodshed 
have  indeed  not  ceased  to  desolate  this  unhappy  country,  and  gross 
darkness  now  covers  the  people ;  but  from  this  region  a  light  went 
forth,  which  has  enlightened  the  world,  and  unveiled  new  climes ;  and 
now  the  rays  of  that  light  begin  to  be  reflected  back  from  distant  isles 
and  continents  to  illuminate  anew  the  darkened  land  where  it  first 
sprang  up."1 

The  report  of  the  wonderful  works  of  Jesus  in  Jerusalem  and  Judsea 
had  preceded  Him,  brought  back  by  those  who  had  gone  up  from 
Galilee  to  the  feast ;  and  the  Galileans,  as  a  general  thing,  perhaps 
proud  of  the  honour  He  had  reflected  on  His  country,  were  disposed  to 
receive  Him.  He  came  back  preaching,  "  Repent  ye,  and  believe  the 
gospel."  Strange  to  tell,  at  Nazareth,  where  He  had  been  brought  up, 
and  to  which  He  had  already  given  greater  fame  than  it  had  ever 
enjoyed  before,  although  all  bare  Him  witness,  and  wondered  at  the 
gracious  words  that  proceeded  from  His  mouth,  He  was  thrust  out 
of  the  synagogue,  and  brought  to  the  brow  of  a  precipice  of  the 
hill  on  which  the  city  was  built,  that  they  might  cast  Him  down 
headlong ;  and  they  would  have  done  it  had  He  not  escaped  out  of 
their  hands.  A  precipice  of  this  hill  breaks  off  in  a  perpendicular 
wall,  forty  or  fifty  feet  in  height,  which  may  well  have  been  the  spot 
to  which  the  Nazarenes  led  Jesus,  to  execute  their  murderous  purpose." 

Of  the  fulfilment  of  this  prophecy,  "  He  was  despised  and  rejected  of 
men,"  '6  St.  John  thus  early  became  an  astonished  witness.  He  began 
now  to  learn  what  was  involved  in  discipleship  to  such  a  Master.  He 
retired  with  Him  to  Cana,  the  home  of  Nathanael,  a  town  some  seven 
miles  to  the  north,  where  the  great  miracle  of  turning  water  into  wine 
had  been  performed.  Whilst  here  another  very  remarkable  miracle 
was  wrought.  A  nobleman,  supposed  to  be  Chuza,  one  of  the  chief 
officers  of  Herod's  court  came  in  great  haste  and  anxiety,  and  besought 
Him  to  come  at  once  to  Capernaum  to  heal  his  son,  who  was  lying  at 
the  point  of  death.  He  would  have  Christ  instantly  leave  the  work  in 

Antipas.  After  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  the  great  Jewish  Sanhedrin  is  said 
to  have  been  established  here,  for  some  years  before  it  was  transferred  to  Tiberias. 
It  was  called  by  the  Eomans  Diocaesarea.  Jos.,  Life,  9,  45,  65 ;  Ant.  xiv.,  15, 
(4);  xvii.,  10,  (9),  etc.;  Reland's  Palestina,  p.  998;  Kobinson's  Bib.  Ees.,ii.,p. 
344. 

1  Kob.  Bib.  Ees.,ii.,  pp.  337,  338. 

2  Rob.  Bib.  Res.,  ii.,  p.  335.     But  see  also  Land  and  Book,  ii.,  p.  135. 

3  Is.  liii.  3. 


68  THE    LIFE   AND    WRITINGS    OF   ST.  JOHN. 

which  He  was  engaged,  no  matter  what  distress  there  might  be  to  be 
relieved  at  Cana,  and  hurry  to  the  bedside  of  his  dying  son,  not  knowing 
while  he  gave  so  much  evidence  of  faith  how  inadequate  it  was,  and 
that  the  Lord,  though  at  the  distance  of  a  score  of  miles,  with  a  word 
could  heal  the  sick  just  as  effectually  as  if  He  were  present  and  could 
lay  His  hands  on  him. 

The  visit  of  the  nobleman  probably  prepared  the  way  for  Christ  to 
come  to  Capernaum,  and  may  have  led  to  His  selecting  it  as  His  future 
Galilean  home,  as  Bethany  came  to  enjoy  a  similar  honour  in  Judaea. 
On  arriving  at  Capernaum  He  went  into  the  synagogue,  where  He 
taught  with  so  much  power  that  they  who  heard  Him  were  astonished. 
Here  John  saw  a  demoniac  healed  by  a  command  to  the  unclean  spirit 
to  come  out  of  the  man,  and  he  heard  the  spirit  cry,  "  Thou  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  art  Thou  come  to  destroy  us  ?  I  know  Thee  who  Thou  art, 
the  Holy  One  of  God."1  So  great  were  the  crowds  on  one  occasion 
that  pressed  upon  Him  to  hear  the  word  of  God,  that  He  went  into  a 
boat,  and  taught  the  people  standing  on  the  shore.  At  the  conclusion 
of  His  discourse,  He  directed  Peter,  to  whom  the  boat  belonged,  to  put 
out  into  the  deeper  waters,  and  cast  the  nets.  In  another  vessel  were 
James  and  John.  So  great  was  the  number  of  fishes  that  they  were 
overwhelmed  with  astonishment.  From  this  time  they  forsook  all  and 
followed  Him ;  and  He  told  them  that  from  henceforth  they  should 
catch  men.2  Whatever  may  have  been  the  secret  thoughts  and  pur- 
poses of  John  and  his  companions  heretofore,  as  to  the  future  course  of 
their  lives,  their  plans  were  now  fully  formed.  Whatever  prospects 
the  world  may  have  held  out,  he  now  resolved  to  forsake  all  and  follow 
Christ,  and  devote  his  life  to  His  service  as  He  should  direct.  He  had 
been  called  to  the  discipleship ;  he  now  freely  chose  it  for  himself. 
Accompanied  by  His  disciples,  Jesus  at  once  starts  on  His  first  circuit 
through  Galilee,  preaching  in  the  synagogues  and  healing  all  manner 
of  diseases,  and  His  fame  spreads  over  the  whole  province  of  Syria.3 
The  whole  region  was  crowded  with  people,  as  attested,  not  orly  by 
history,  but  by  the  ruins  of  towns  and  cities  which  fill  it.  It  was  a 
new  mode  of  life  to  John ;  and  by  what  he  daily  heard  and  saw,  his 
faith  in  his  new  Master  had  occasion  to  be  strengthened. 

On  returning  to  Capernaum  He  performed  another  miracle,  similar 
to  the  healing  of  the  nobleman's  son, — that  of  the  centurion's  servant, 

1  Mark  i.  21-28  ;  Luke  iv.  33-37.     John  and  his  fellow-disciples  had  every  con- 
ceivable form  of  evidence  that  the  Master  whom  they  followed  was  the  promised 
Messiah.     Not  only  voices  from  heaven  above,  but  voices  from  beneath  proclaimed 
Him.     The  demoniacal  possessions  which  marked  the  period  of  our  Lord's  appear- 
ance were  overruled  in  this  way,  and  may  have  been  permitted  for  this  purpose. 

2  Luke  v.  1-11. 

3  Matt.  iv.  23-25;  Mark  i.  35-39 ;  Luke  iv.  42-44. 


ST.  MATTHEW   CALLED.  69 

whose  faith  and  humility  were  such  that,  feeling  unworthy  the  Saviour 
should  come  under  his  roof,  he  desired  Him  only  to  speak  the  word, 
remaining  where  He  was.  His  faith  received  the  highest  commenda- 
tion ;  his  request  was  granted,  and  his  servant  healed.1  In  Peter's 
household  He  performed  the  miracle  of  healing  his  wife's  mother  by 
touching  her  hand.  And  we  are  told  that  all  the  sick  of  this  city, 
whatever  diseases  they  had,  were  brought  to  Him,  and  He  cured  them 
all ;  so  that  once  in  the  history  of  this  sin-stricken  world,  there  has 
been  a  considerable  place  or  city,  in  which  for  a  time,  no  sickness  could 
be  found.  The  whole  train  of  human  maladies  was  kept  at  bay  by 
Him,  to  whose  word  they  were  as  obedient  as  soldiers  to  their  com- 
mander, or  servants  to  their  master.  John  was  present  at  Capernaum 
on  this  happy  occasion.  He  was,  moreover,  about  to  receive  a  new 
companion  in  the  discipleship,  selected  from  a  class  whom,  doubtless, 
in  common  with  the  Jews  generally,  he  had  been  in  the  habit  of  look- 
ing upon  with  contempt.  Matthew  or  Levi,  the  publican,  was  called 
from  the  very  receipt  of  custom  ;  he  probably  being  the  tax-gatherer 
for  the  district  of  Capernaum.  Our  Lord  thus  closely  identifies  Him- 
self and  His  followers  with  a  despised  class.  At  the  feast  which 
Matthew  made  for  Him  in  his  own  house,  were  many  publicans  and 
sinners  ;  and  He  seizes  the  occasion  to  give  the  offended  Pharisees  some 
wholesome  instruction,  which  may  have  been  equally  suited  to  John 
and  his  companions,  previously  called  to  the  discipleship.2  The  list, 
as  it  now  stood,  was  John,  James,  Andrew,  Peter,  Philip,  Nathanael, 
and  Matthew.3  Christ  loved  them  all ;  and  when  He  had  chosen  the 
twelve  who  were  to  be  apostles,  all  were  dear  to  Him ;  even  those 
whose  names  scarcely  appear  in  the  evangelical  narrative,  except  in  the 
apostolic  catalogues  there  given.  He  loved  Judas  Iscariot.  But  Peter, 
James,  and  John,  appear  to  have  stood  in  a  nearer  relation  to  Him  than 
the  others.  They  formed  a  kind  of  inner  circle ;  the  innermost  nearest 
circle  of  the  loving  trusting  hearts  that  gathered  around  Him.  But 
of  this  favoured  triad  John  was  admitted  to  the  closest  intimacy,  and 

1  Matt.  viii.  5-13  ;  Luke  vii.  1-10. 

2  Matt.  ix.  9-17 ;  Mark  ii.  14-22 ;  Luke  v.  27-39. 

3  The  humility  of  Matthew  is  very  worthy  of  notice.    He  speaks  of  himself  in  his 
gospel  as  if  he  had  but  the  slightest  possible   connection  with  the  narrative.     He 
was  "  a  man  named  Matthew,"  and  he  records  in  the  simplest  manner  possible  the 
two  facts  that  he  was  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  his  office  when  Christ  called 
him,  and  that  he  immediately  followed  Christ  on  being  called.     He  refers  to  him- 
self on  but  one  other  occasion— in  the  catalogue  he  gives  of  the  names  of  the 
apostles,  Matt.  x.  3.     Mark  and  Luke  mention  the  fact  that  Matthew,  or  Levi,  as 
they  call  him,  made  a  great  feast  in  his  house,  at  which  Jesus  was  present  in 
company  with  many  publicans  and  sinners.     Mark  ii.  15 ;  Luke  v.  29.     Matthew 
himself,  in  referring  to  this  feast,  makes  no  allusion  to  the  fact  that  it  was  made 
by  him  (chap.  ix.  10). 


70  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OP    ST.  JOHN. 

must  already  have  had  many  opportunities  of  enjoying  its  privileges. 
He  was  to  be  best  known  as  "  the  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved." 

Near  the  close  of  the  first  year  of  the  Lord's  ministry,  these  three 
disciples  were  permitted  to  be  present,  when  all  others  were  excluded, 
on  a  most  important  occasion — that  of  the  resurrection  of  a  person 
from  the  dead — the  first  miracle  of  the  kind  by  our  Lord  of  which 
record  is  made,  and  of  which,  probably,  there  had  been  no  example 
among  the  Jews  since  the  days  of  the  old  prophets.  The  person  on 
whom  this  miracle  was  wrought  was  the  young  daughter  of  Jairus,  a 
ruler  of  the  synagogue.  Having  caused  the  company,  who  were 
gathered  around  the  body  weeping,  and  indulging  in  all  those  manifest- 
ations of  grief  customary  among  the  Jews,  to  leave  the  room  where  the 
corpse  was  lying,  He  went  in  with  the  father  and  mother,  and  the  three 
disciples  just  named,  and  taking  the  child  by  the  hand  called  her  back  to 
life  again.1  The  impression  of  that  scene  on  the  spectators  could  never 
pass  away.  John  was  one  of  them,  and  shared  in  the  joy  of  the  parents 
as  they  received  back  to  life  and  health  their  little  daughter;  saw  her 
walk,  and  eat,  and  smile  again.  From  that  hour  he  must  have  looked 
with  increasing  wonder  and  admiration  on  the  Master  whom  he  was 
following.  Another  miracle  of  a  similar  kind  almost  immediately 
followed.  Jesus  went  out  to  Nain,  a  town  in  the  vicinity  of  Capernaum, 
and  seems  to  have  gone  expressly  to  meet  a  funeral  procession  at  the 
gate.  It  was  that  of  a  young  man,  the  only  son  of  his  mother,  and  she 
was  a  widow.  .  He  touches  the  bier,  and  says,  "Arise;"  and  he  that 
was  dead  sat  up  and  began  to  speak.2  It  was  about  this  time  that  John 
the  Baptist,  lying  in  prison,  oppressed  with  solitude  and  inaction,  sent 
a  message  3  to  Jesus,  which  betrayed  a  disturbance  of  that  faith  he  had 
so  confidently  expressed  when  he  pointed  Him  out  to  Andrew  and  John 
as  the  Lamb  of  God.  How  must  these  old  disciples  of  the  Baptist 
have  wished  that  he  could  see  and  know  what  had  been  granted  to 
them ! 

Thus  closes  the  first  year  of  the  Lord's  ministry,  and  of  John's 
association  with  Him  as  a  disciple  ;  a  year  of  constant  labour,  in  which 
were  gathered  in  the  first  fruits  of  the  spiritual  harvest  in  Judaea  and 
Samaria  and  Galilee.  No  adequate  view  of  the  history  of  this  disciple 
can  be  given,  without  presenting  those  parts  of  the  history  of  the 
Master,  in  which  especially  he  had  a  more  immediate  personal  concern, 
nor  can  we  otherwise  discern  the  influences  which  served  to  form  and 
develop  his  character  and  fit  him  for  his  work.  The  history  of  his 
connection  with  Christ  exhibits  his  preparation — his  training  and  educa- 

1  Matt.  ix.  18-26 ;  Mark  v.  22-43;  Luke  viii.  41-56. 

2  Luke  vii.  11-17. 

3  Matt.  xi.  2-19  ;  Luke  vii.  19-35. 


AGAIN   AT   JERUSALEM.  71 

tion,  it  may  be  said — for  the  great  work  to  which  he  was  called.  How- 
ever little  he  may  have  known  of  schools  and  academies,  he  had  for  his 
tutor  Him  whom  he  learned  to  style  the  Light  of  the  world.1 

At  the  beginning  of  St.  John's  second  year  under  the  tuition  of  the 
great  Teacher,  we  find  him  again  at  Jerusalem  with  his  Master,  whither 
he  had  gone  to  be  present  at  the  passover.2  We  have  no  intimation 
by  what  route  this  journey  was  made,  nor  of  the  incidents  of  the 
journey.  We  pass  over  what  occurred  at  the  pool  of  Bethesda,3  as 
full  of  instruction  and  impressive  as  the  scene  must  have  been  to 
John,  and  the  events  of  the  return-journey,  except  to  notice  that 
the  charge  of  violation  of  the  Sabbath,  which  the  Pharisees  brought 
against  Him,  on  account  of  His  healing  the  impotent  man  at  Bethesda, 
seems  to  have  led  Him  on  the  way  to  instruct  His  disciples  in  regard  to 
the  true  sanctity  of  the  Sabbath ;  and  thus  to  bring  into  bolder  contrast 
the  spiritual  system  He  taught  with  the  ceremonial  system  of  the 
Pharisees.  On  the  following  Sabbath  he  repeated  the  lesson  in  the 
synagogue  (probably  at  Capernaum),  where  He  had  healed  the  man 
with  a  withered  hand,  and  silenced  His  enemies.  It  was  now  that  the 
Pharisees  first  began  seriously  to  plot  against  His  life.  It  was  this 
probably  that  had  led  Him  to  withdraw  so  soon  to  the  Sea  of  Tiberias, 
which  hitherto  had  been  the  chief  theatre  of  His  ministry.  Great 

1  John  i.  7-9  ;  viii.  12 ;  ix.  5  ;  xii.  46,  etc. 

2  John  v.  1. 

3  The  monks  and  many  travellers  have  chosen  to  find  the  pool  of  Bethesda  in 
the  deep  reservoir  or  trench  on  the  north  side  of  the  area  of  the  great  mosque,  or 
temple-area;  and  in  the  two  long  vaults  at  its  south-west  corner  they  profess  to 
find  two  of  the  five  ancient  porches.     But  there  is  not  the  slightest  evidence  that 
can  identify  it  with  the  Bethesda  of  the  New  Testament.     Dr.  Kobinson  thinks  that 
this  was  a  trench  designed  to  protect  the  fortress  of  Antonia  on  the  north.     The 
name  Bethesda  has  probably  been  assigned  to  it  in  comparatively  modern  times, 
from  its  proximity  to  St.  Stephen's  gate,  which  was  erroneously  held  to  be  the 
ancient  Sheep-gate.     Bib.  Ees.,  vol.  i.,  p.  330  seq.     Dr.  Robinson  suggests,  with 
great  probability,  that  the  Bethesda  of  Scripture  is  to  be  found  in  the  pool  of  the 
Virgin,  situated  at  a  short  distance  outside  the  present  wall  of  the  city,  in  the 
valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  into  which  the  water  is  supposed  to  come  from  a  fountain 
beneath  the  temple-vaults,  and  from  which  it  flows,  by  a  subterraneous  passage, 
under  the  hill  Ophel,  into  the  pool  of  Siloam.     After  a  careful  examination  of  the 
subject,  we  are  constrained  to  accept  the  suggestion  that  the  fountain  of  the  Virgin, 
or  the  upper  pool  of  Siloam,  is  the  true  site  of  the  ancient  Bethesda.     The  dis- 
covery of  Dr.  Eobinson  that  the  upper  pool  is  intermitting  or  irregular  in  its  flow 
(for  he  may  be  said  to  have  discovered  it,  as  the  fact  had  been  overlooked  by  the 
learned  world  for   centuries),  throws  great  light  on  the  passage    which  records 
Christ's  miracle  at  Bethesda.     It  strongly  confirms  the  results  of  the  best  criticism 
on  John  v.  1-9,  which  regards  the  closing  words  of  the  third  verse,  in  the  English, 
"  waiting  for  the  moving  of  the  water,"  to  the  end  of  the  fourth  verse — in  the 
Greek,  from  the  word  CK^O^VWV  to  the  word  voff^an— as  spurious.     But  see  the 
author's  "Bethesda  and  its  Miracle"  in  Biblioth.  Sac.,  vol.  xxvii.,  No.  105,  Jan., 
1870 ;  Art.  v. 


72  THE    LIFE    AND   WRITINGS    OP   ST.  JOHN. 

multitudes  gathered  around  Him.  They  came  from  all  parts  of 
Judsea  and  Galilee,  and  from  the  countries  lying  to  the  south-east  of 
Tiberias,  Idumea  and  Persea,  and  to  the  north-east,  from  the  region 
about  those  great  ancient  marts  of  trade,  Tyre  and  Sidon.1 

At  night  He  sought  retirement ;  He  went  out  into  a  mountain  near 
Capernaum,  and  spent  a  whole  night  in  prayer.2  That  night  of  prayer 
had  some  reference,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  to  what  was  to  occur  the 
following  day.  In  the  morning,  "  He  called  unto  Him  His  disciples ; 
and  of  them  He  chose  twelve,  whom  He  also  named  apostles."  In  this 
honoured  list  occurs  the  name  of  John,  who,  together  with  his  brother, 
the  first  apostolic  martyr,  received  the  surname,  Boanerges,  sons  of 
thunder.3  It  was  a  great  office,  the  greatest  to  which  man  was  ever 
called.  In  virtue  of  it  he  was  to  be  endowed  with  miraculous  power, 
and  the  gift  of  inspiration ;  he  was  to  receive  the  keys  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  and  to  be  entrusted  with  the  organization  of  the  Church  and 
the  dissemination  of  the  religion  of  Christ  among  men.  He  had  been 
already  more  than  a  year  with  Christ,  before  he  received  solemn 
appointment  to  this  high  office.  His  tuition  and  discipline  were  to  be 
continued  during  the  whole  period  of  the  Lord's  ministry  ;  and  after 
His  ascension  he  was  to  receive  those  supernatural  gifts  which  would 
qualify  him  to  perform  the  high  functions  he  would  be  called  to 
exercise.  The  Founder  of  Christianity  did  not  send  forth  uninstructed, 
untrained,  undisciplined  men  to  do  His  work.  The  apostles  have  been 
so  often  described  as  rude,  untaught  fishermen,  that  it  is  the  more 
important  to  notice  their  advantages  over  all  other  men  in  their 
contact  and  close  association  with  the  greatest  of  teachers  for  a  period 
of  more  than  three  years. 

1  Mark  iii.  8,  9. 

2  Luke  vi.  12,  13.     The  calling  and  training  of  the  apostles  was  a  most  moment- 
ous part  of  the  work  of  Christ.     When  in  John  xvii.  4-6,  He  says  TO  epyov  ereXetWa, 
K.T.X.,  I   have  finished  the  work,  etc.,  He  defines  the  declaration  more  precisely, 
£<f)av£p<ixra  ffov  rb  6vofj.a.,  K.T.X.»  J    have  declared  thy  name  unto  the  men  which  thou 
gavest  me.     The  great  work  of  His  public  life  was  concentrated  in  the  preparation 
of  those  who  were  to  be  His  witnesses.     His  ministry  had  for  its  chief  end  the 
training  of  the  twelve  apostles.     This  is  a  fact  which  must  not  be  overlooked,  if 
we  would  rightly  estimate  His  miracles  and  instructions,  and  the  influences  that 
were  concerned  in  the  education  of  such  men  as  John  and  his  associates.     "  From 
the  time  of  their  being  chosen,  indeed,  the  twelve  entered  on  a  regular  apprentice- 
ship for  the  great  office  of  the  apostleship,  in  the  course  of  which  they  were  to 
learn,  in  the  privacy  of  an  intimate  daily  fellowship  with  their  Master,  what  they 
should  do,  be,  believe,  and  teach,  as  His  witnesses  and  ambassadors  to  the  world. 
Henceforth  the  teaching  of  these  men  was  to  be  a  constant  and  prominent  part  of 
Christ's  personal  work."     This  idea  has  been  elaborated  at  great  length  in  a  work 
which  has  just  fallen  under  the  author's  notice  :     "  The  Training  of  the  Twelve,"  by 
the  Kev.  Alex.  B.  Bruce.    Edinburgh  :  T.  &  T.  Clark,  1872.    See  p.  31,  etc.,  passim. 

3  Mark  iii.  17. 


THE  SERMON  ON  THE  MOUNT.  73 

It  was  at  or  near  this  period,  that  Christ  delivered,  and,  as  it 
appears,  especially  for  the  instruction  of  His  disciples,  that  wonderful 
discourse,  known  as  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.1  It  may,  without  any 
straining  or  violence,  be  regarded  as  a  discourse  inaugurative  of  the 
apostolic  office,  and  designed  expressly  for  the  instruction  of  those  who 
were  to  fill  this  office.  It  opens  with  the  beatitudes,  and  proclaims 
the  spirit  of  the  new  dispensation  ;  and  thus  it  is  to  the  New  Testament 
what  the  Ten  Commandments  were  to  the  Old.  It  was  designed  to 
show  these  men,  preparing  for  their  work  as  apostles,  that  the  pre- 
cepts Christ  gave,  instead  of  abrogating,  enforce,  in  its  true  spiritual 
import,  the  law  given  on  Sinai,  expanded  into  the  new  law  of  love. 
It  is  a  discourse  which  excites  admiration  the  more  it  is  studied,  and 
the  more  its  adaptation  to  its  end  is  discovered.  It  was  a  fit  occasion 
for  giving  the  men,  who  were  to  be  "  apostles  of  the  Lamb,"  and  whose 
names  were  to  be  inscribed  on  the  "  twelve  foundations  "  of  the  New 
Jerusalem,2  some  special  instruction ;  and  for  a  public  declaration 
respecting  the  spiritual  nature  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  and  the  life 
and  character  of  those  who  would  become  His  followers.  It  was  the 
apostles,  who  were  to  be  charged  with  carrying  forward  the  great  work 
of  evangelizing  the  world,  who  were  primarily  meant  when  Jesus  said, 
"  Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth  ; "  "Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world."  It 
was,  however,  intended  for  all  who  felt  drawn  to  follow  Him,  to  teach 
them  what  they  had  to  expect,  and  what  would  be  expected  of  them. 
It  was  intended  to  exhibit  the  kingdom  of  Messiah  as  the  consumma- 
tion for  which  the  old  dispensation  had  prepared  the  way. 

The  apostles  gathered  immediately  around  Him,  while  the  multitude, 
at  the  foot  of  the  slope  on  which  He  was  seated,  would  hear  from  His 
own  lips,  those  great  truths  respecting  the  requisites  for  entering  His 
kingdom,  the  results  of  admission  therein,  and  the  relations  of  the 
members  to  one  another,  and  to  their  fellow-men.3  "  We  are  no  more 
in  the  burning  desert,  at  the  foot  of  lightning-crowned  Horeb,  in  a 
land  of  terror,  where  the  divine  voice  reverberates  like  thunder  among 
the  naked  rocks.  JESUS  is  seated  on  a  grassy  slope,  which  by  a  gentle 
incline  sinks  down  to  the  Lake  of  Tiberias.  The  gorges  of  Hattin,  to 
which  tradition  assigns  this  great  gospel-scene,  command  the  enchant- 
ing landscape  of  the  country  of  Gennesaret.  Every  utterance  of  nature 
is  peace  and  love  ;  and  nothing  is  more  easy  than  to  picture  to  one's 
self  the  Master  in  such  a  scene,  surrounded  by  His  twelve  apostles, 

1  Matt.  v.  1,  2.     He  went  up  into  the  mountain,  av^rj  et'j  rb  opos,  that  He  might 
separate  His  disciples  from  the  great  throng  that  was  gathered  about  Him,  and 
address  His  instructions  more  particularly  to  them. 

2  Rev.  xxi.  14. 

3  Neander'a  Life  of  Christ,  chap.  ix. 


74  THE    LIFE    AND   WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

and  addressing  them  in  the  hearing  of  the  multitude,  seated  on  the 
flowery  p^ass  His  first  word  is  not  a  threat,  but  a  blessing.  The 
new  la^v  is  not,  like  the  old,  a  terrible  manifestation  of  the  divine 
holiness,  flashing  on  the  eyes  of  men,  in  condemnation  and  unap- 
proachable purity.  No  ;  it  is,  in  its  very  essence,  grace  and  pardon  ; 
He  who  proclaims  it  is  the  Saviour  of  mankind.  And  yet  every 
beatitude  has  a  corresponding  anathema.  Matthew  restricts  himself 
to  the  benedictions,  because  he  knows  full  well  that  they  are  sufficient 
in  themselves  to  condemn  Phariseeism.  The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is 
not  the  opening  of  an  idyl ;  it  is  the  prelude  of  a  drama,  of  a  conflict ; 
thus,  from  its  commencement,  it  is  transfused  with  a  solemn  forebod- 
ing. On  these  enchanted  shores  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee  we  see  again  the 
burning  bush,  out  of  which  speaks  again  the  High  and  Holy  One. 
The  God  of  sovereign  compassion  is  also  a  consuming  fire." l 

As  Jesus  came  down  from  the  mountain,  followed  by  the  multitude, 
He  exhibited  again  His  miraculous  power,  by  healing  one  afflicted  with 
that  terrible  form  of  disease,  the  leprosy.  He  immediately  made 
another  circuit,  accompanied  by  the  twelve  now  appointed  to  the 
apostolic  office,  through  all  the  cities  and  villages  of  Galilee,  preaching 
and  showing  the  glad  tidings  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  They  shared  in 
this  blessed  privilege,  and  thus  exercised  their  gifts  and  gained  ex- 
perience.2 In  addition  to  the  seven  whose  names  have  already  ap- 
peared (John,  Andrew,  Peter,  Philip,  Nathanael,  James  brother  of  John, 
and  Matthew),  the  men  who  constituted  this  sacred  band,  and  who  were 
henceforth  to  be  so  intimately  associated  with  John,  were  Thomas, 
James  son  of  Alpheus,  Simon  Zelotes,  Jude  the  brother  of  James,  and 
Judas  Iscariot.3  They  were  accompanied  by  the  pious  women,  who 
ministered  to  Christ  of  their  substance  ;  some  of  whom  were  the  same 
who  were  to  attest  their  fealty  and  heroism  at  His  crucifixion,  Mary 
Magdalene,  and  Joanna,  the  wife  or  widow  of  Chuza,  Herod's  steward. 

Our  Lord  at  this  time  commenced  that  method  of  instruction  by 
parables,  of  which  He  made  so  great  use,  and  the  meaning  of  which  He 
often  unfolded  to  His  disciples  in  private  ;  as  for  example,  that  instruc- 
tive series  in  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  Matthew,  all  relating  to  the 
same  subject, — the  kingdom  or  Church  of  Christ ;  in  which  we  have 
(1)  the  establishment,  (2)  the  government  or  discipline,  (3)  the  exten- 
sion, (4)  the  internal  or  spiritual  growth,  (5)  the  preciousness,  (6)  the 
purchase,  and  (7)  the  final  perfection  of  the  kingdom,  so  strikingly  set 

1  De  Pressense's  Jesus  Christ ;  Times,  Life,  etc.,  pp.  321,  322. 

2  Luke  viii.  1-3. 

3  Nathanael  is  the  same  as  Bartholomew,  Lebbeus  or  Thaddeus  the  same  as  Jude 
the  brother  of  James,  Simon  the  Canaanite  the  same  as  Simon  Zelotes.     Of  Simon 
not  a  single  circumstance  is  recorded  beyond  the  fact  that  he  was  one  of  the  twelve. 
He  is  the  least  known  of  all  the  apostles. 


THE    TWELVE   WITHOUT    THE    MASTER.  75 

before  us.  On  their  return  to  Capernaum,  to  escape  the  throng  of 
people  that  were  continually  about  Him,  and  enjoy  a  season  of:  quiet, 
He  gave  direction  to  the  apostles  that  they  should  set  sail  for  the 
other  side  of  the  lake.  It  was  on  this  occasion  a  certain  scribe  desired 
to  follow  Him,  to  whom  He  made  the  plaintive  reply,  which  could  not 
have  been  without  its  effect  on  so  susceptible  a  nature  as  that  of  John, 
"  The  foxes  have  holes,  and  the  birds  of  the  air  have  nests,  but  the  Son 
of  man1  hath  not  where  to  lay  His  head."  It  was  evening  when  they 
set  sail,  and  Jesus,  wearied  with  His  recent  manifold  labours,  was  soon 
asleep.  A  storm  arose,  and  they  were  in  great  fear ;  they  awake  Him, 
and  He  performs  for  the  first  time  the  miracle  of  stilling  the  tempest.2 
Passing  over  the  miracles,  the  discourses,  the  parables,  and  the  third 
tour  which  Jesus  made  through  the  cities  and  villages  of  Galilee,  all  of 
which  must  have  been  full  of  instruction  to  the  disciples,  who  had 
already  become  so  dear  to  Him  and  to  the  whole  band,  we  come  to  the 
period  when  the  Saviour  was  moved  with  compassion  as  He  saw  the 
multitudes  perishing  as  sheep  having  no  shepherd,  and  sent  forth  the 
twelve,  by  two  and  two,  in  all  directions,  giving  them  power  to  work 
miracles,  particularly  to  heal  the  sick,  and  commanding  them  to  preach 
the  kingdom  of  God.3  They  were  not  to  pass  beyond  the  boundaries 
of  Palestine  among  the  Gentiles ;  they  were  not  even  to  enter  any  city 
of  the  Samaritans.  It  was  a  mission  exclusively  to  their  own  people, 
or  kindred,  according  to  the  flesh,  the  Jews.  He  gave  them  the  sub- 
stance of  what  they  were  to  preach :  "  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at 
hand."  He  gave  them  a  charge  as  to  their  deportment,  and  the  manner 
in  which  they  should  cast  themselves  unreservedly  on  the  care  and 
protection  of  divine  providence  in  prosecuting  their  work.  The  Jews 
in  every  part  of  the  land  must  first  hear  the  glad  tidings  before  they 
could  look  abroad  to  other  fields,  however  white  to  the  harvest.  We 
are  not  told  who  was  John's  companion  on  this  missionary  tour. 
Perhaps  it  was  Peter.  More  probably  it  was  his  brother  James.  They 
were  "  sons  of  thunder,"  and  no  doubt  prosecuted  their  mission  with 
a  zeal  and  fervour  becoming  the  title  they  had  received.  But  the  par- 

1  Matt.  viii.  20.      This  title,  vibs  TOV  avdpuirov,  the  Son  of  man,  is  here  for  the 
first  time  applied  to  Christ,  by  Himself,  and  is  never,  although  it  occurs  some 
sixty  times,  applied  to  Him  by  any  other  person  in  the  gospels.    After  His  ascen- 
sion we  find  it  applied  to  Him  by  the  martyr  Stephen  (Acts  vii.  56) ;  and  in  the 
Apocalypse   (i.   13  and   xiv.  14).     It  is  used  in  Dan.  vii.    13,  where  everlasting 
dominion  is  ascribed  to  Messiah.      Dr.  J.  Addison  Alexander,  who  seldom  in  a 
matter  of  this  kind  falls  into  mistake,  in  commenting  on  the  words  of  Stephen  in 
the  above  passage  in  Acts,  says,  the  title  "  is  nowhere  else  in  Scripture  applied  to 
Christ  except  by  Himself." 

2  Mark  iv.  35-41 ;  Luke  viii.  22-25. 

3  Mark  vi.  7-13. 


76  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

ticular  history  of  the  sayings  and  doings  of  these  young  men,  sent  forth 
on  an  embassy  of  snch  high  importance,  is  not  recorded.  We  are 
simply  told  that  they  returned  and  reported  to  Jesus  all  things,  both 
what  they  had  done  and  what  they  had  taught.  It  was  a  critical 
period  in  their  history.  What  a  moment  it  must  have  been  to  John 
and  his  companions  when  for  the  first  time  they  exercised  their  newly 
acquired  power  of  performing  miracles  !  Was  there  no  danger  lest  the 
possession  of  such  a  power  should  work  in  them  a  spirit  of  presumption 
and  self-consequence  ?  But  the  Lord  was  with  them  to  strengthen 
them  in  their  weakness.  They  do  not,  on  this  first  occasion  in  which 
they  venture  forth  without  their  Master,  appear  to  have  encountered 
much  opposition  or  persecution,  The  mission  with  which  Jesus  charged 
them  had  been  proportioned  to  their  weakness.  It  was  not  prosecuted 
among  the  philosophic  heathen,  nor  the  hostile  Samaritans,  but  was 
confined  to  their  own  countrymen,  and  mainly,  probably,  to  Galilee. 
And  their  preaching  was  limited  to  the  general  announcement  that  the 
promised  Messiah  had  appeared, — a  message  indeed  of  the  weightiest 
import.  They  were  criers  and  heralds  of  the  great  fact,  and  knew 
enough,  especially  John  and  those  of  their  number  who  had  been  dis- 
ciples of  the  forerunner  of  Christ,  to  be  entrusted  on  this  embassy 
alone.  They  proclaimed  without  fear  what  they  knew  of  truth,  that 
Messiah  had  come ;  and  Jesus,  the  Master  they  followed,  and  who  had 
sent  them,  was  He. 

On  the  return  of  the  twelve  He  takes  them  into  a  desert  place  for 
rest,  thus  showing  His  regard  for  the  health  and  physical  comfort  of 
those  whom  He  had  called  to  labour  for  Him.  He  departs  privately 
by  boat  to  an  uninhabited  region  on  the  other  side  of  the  lake.  But 
the  people  saw  in  what  direction  He  sailed,  watching  the  boat  no 
doubt  from  the  highlands  near  the  shore,  and  hastened  to  the  spot  by 
thousands.  The  country  was  thronging  with  people  again  preparing 
to  go  to  the  passover  at  Jerusalem.  They  had  followed  in  such  haste 
that  they  found  themselves  in  that  desert-region  without  food.  Five 
loaves  and  two  small  fishes  in  the  possession  of  a  lad  was  all  the  food 
found  in  the  company.  With  these  He  performed  the  miracle  of  feed- 
ing five  thousand  men,  besides  women  and  children,  and  after  all  had 
eaten  twelve  baskets  full  were  left,  one  for  each  of  the  apostles  ;  as  if 
there  was  something  symbolical  in  this,  designed  to  teach  them  that  of 
the  bread  of  life  of  which  they  were  made  the  bearers  to  nations,  the 
supply  could  never  bo  exhausted.  Such  was  the  effect  of  the  miracle 
on  the  thousands  that  they  resolved  by  force  to  make  Him  their  king. 
What  must  have  been  the  effect  of  all  this  enthusiasm  on  the  minds  of 
the  apostles  ?  May  not  the  idea  of  being  first  in  the  kingdom  in  the 
minds  of  John  and  James,  which  had  its  development  at  a  later  period, 


THE    LAST    YEAR    OF    TRAINING.  77 

have  had  its  inception  at  this  time  ?  Our  Lord  sends  the  apostles 
back  to  the  other  side,  and  hides  Himself  in  a  mountain  at  hand. 
During  the  night  they  are  overtaken  by  a  violent  storm  on  the  lake, 
and  are  filled  with  the  utmost  terror.  Jesus  comes  to  them  walking 
on  the  sea ;  but  they  take  Him  to  be  some  phantom  or  spirit  of  the 
storm.  As  soon  as  He  enters  the  vessel  the  tempest  is  calmed,  and 
they  find  themselves  at  the  point  where  they  wished  to  land.  The 
thousands  who  had  been  fed  follow  Him  back  to  the  western  side  of 
the  lake,  and  He  delivers  to  them  a  most  important  and  instructive 
discourse,  unfolding  the  spiritual  nature  of  His  kingdom  and  of  the 
blessings  to  be  conferred  on  His  followers.  The  effect  was  that  many 
who  had  professed  to  be  His  disciples  left  Him ;  but  the  apostles 
remained  firm  in  their  attachment.  Many  when  they  discovered  that 
no  worldly  advantage  was  likely  to  accrue  to  them,  went  back  and 
walked  no  more  with  Him.  But  John  and  his  associates  were  stead- 
fast; and  in  face  of  the  gathering  dangers  could  say  in  strong  emphatic 
language,  "  We  believe  and  are  sure  that  Thou  art  Christ,  the  Son  of 
the  living  God."  It  was  on  the  occasion  of  His  faithful  discourse  in 
the  synagogue  at  Capernaum,  after  the  miracle  of  feeding  the  five 
thousand,  in  which  Jesus  proclaimed  Himself  to  be  the  Bread  of  Life, 
and  said,  "  Except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man  and  drink  His 
blood  ye  have  no  life  in  you,"  that  this  profession  was  solemnly  made 
by  the  twelve,  one  only  of  their  number  not  joining  sincerely  in  it.1 
Probably  those  things  which  had  caused  some  who  had  been  numbered 
among  His  disciples  to  turn  back  had  begun  to  affect  the  mind  of 
Judas,  and  cause  his  dreams  of  earthly  riches  and  grandeur  to  fade 
away.  The  days  of  darkness  were  drawing  near ;  the  hour  of  dreaded 
conflict  was  at  hand ;  Christ  joins  none  of  the  caravans  that  are  moving 
on  towards  Jerusalem  to  the  passover.  He  knew  how  intense  the 
spirit  of  opposition  and  hatred  to  Him  had  become ;  and  as  His  hour 
had  not  yet  come,  He  resolves  not  to  go  to  Jerusalem,  but  to  remain 
and  prosecute  His  ministry  in  Galilee.  Whether  John  remained  with 
Him  or  went  to  the  passover  does  not  appear. 

We  enter  upon  the  last  year  of  the  apostle's  training  for  his  work 
under  the  tuition  of  Jesus.  At  the  beginning  of  this  year  occurred  a 
most  interesting  episode  in  the  Saviour's  life.  Disappointed  by  His 
not  appearing  at  Jerusalem  at  the  passover,  the  scribes  and  Pharisees 
send  a  delegation  to  Galilee,  which  gives  Him  an  opportunity  of  rebuk- 
ing to  their  face,  in  the  hearing  of  His  disciples,  their  vain  traditions, 
as  they  deserved.  It  was  probably  their  object  to  stir  up  Herod 
against  Jesus  ;  He,  therefore,  withdrew  for  a  season  into  Phoenicia,  to 

1  John  vi.  1-71. 


78  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

the  celebrated  Tyre1  and  Sidon, — -the  second  time  of  His  passing 
beyond  the  bounds  of  the  holy  land  into  the  great  Gentile  world.  It 
was  the  occasion  of  His  meeting  with  the  Syro-Phcenician  woman. 
John  was  with  Him;  and  it  was  doubtless  the  first  time  he  had  looked, 
with  his  own  eyes,  upon  that  world  with  which  he  was  to  be  so 
familiar  in  his  later  years ;  although,  in  Galilee  and  in  Decapolis,2  he 
had  from  his  childhood  been,  to  a  considerable  extent,  familiar  with 
Gentiles,  or  persons  of  Gentile  extraction.  It  was,  therefore,  a  mem- 
orable occurrence  in  his  life ;  it  entered  into  the  preparation  through 
which  he  was  passing  for  his  great  work.  Our  Lord  went  still  far- 
ther to  the  north,  and  passed  along  the  base  of  Lebanon,  coming  down 
on  His  return  through  the  region  east  of  the  sources  of  the  Jordan, 
upon  the  eastern  coast  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  to  the  district  of  the 
"Ten  Cities,"  built,  or  rebuilt,  by  the  Romans,  Decapolis  so  called, 
largely  populated  by  Gentiles,  where  He  resumed  His  miracles  and 
teaching. 

Bat  passing  on  to  another  interesting  period  in  the  history  of  John's 
preparation  for  his  apostolic  work  under  the  teaching  of  Christ,  we 
find  him  with  his  Master,  in  company  with  other  disciples,  near  the 
northern  boundary  of  the  holy  land,  in  the  vicinity  of  Ceesarea 
Philippi.  Here  stood  the  temple  which  Herod  the  Great  had  erected 
in  honour  of  Augustus  Caesar.  Here  was  the  easternmost  and  most 
important  of  the  two  recognised  sources  of  the  Jordan.  Here  were 
trees  of  every  variety  of  foliage,  and  a  park-like  verdure,  and  a  rush 
of  waters  through  deep  thickets.  The  situation  combines  in  an 
unusual  degree  the  elements  of  beauty  and  grandeur,  "a  Syrian  Tivoli." 
The  ruins  of  the  ancient  town  are  found  in  a  recess  at  the  southern 
base  of  the  mighty  Hermon,  which  towers  to  an  elevation  of  7000  or 
8000  feet,  and  so  near  that  its  snowy  top  is  shut  out  from  view.3  It  was 

1  Tyre,  in  the  time  of  Christ,  although  shorn  of  its  ancient  magnificence,  was 
still  celebrated  for  its  manufactures  and  trade,  which  it  retained  for  a  long  time 
afterwards.    Jerome  in  the  4th  century  calls  it  the  noblest  and  most  beautiful  city 
of  Phoenicia ;  and  as  late  as  the  7th  century  it  retained  its  ancient  celebrity  for  its 
purple.     But  from  the  beginning  of  the  16th  century  to  the  middle  of  the  18th, 
nothing  but  rums  and  hardly  any  inhabitants  were   found  there.     Its  present 
inhabitants  live  among  the  broken  ruins  of  its  former  magnificence,  eking  out  a 
scanty  livelihood  upon  the  exports  of  tobacco,  cotton,  wool,  and  wood.     Sidon  is  a 
more  ancient  city,  about  twenty  miles  north  of  Tyre,  and  at  present  is  larger  and 
better  built  than  its  ancient  rival. 

2  Not  a  district  or  distinct  territory,  but  a  confederation  of  cities,  subject  to  a 
jurisdiction  peculiar  to  themselves,  like  the  once  free  cities  in  the  German  States. 
Like  the  coast  of  Tyre  and  Sidon,  or  Phoenicia,  they  afforded  a  refuge  from  any 
persecution  Herod  might  be  disposed  to  undertake.     On  the  east  side  of  Jordan 
there  were  G-adara,  Pella,  Gerasa,  and  others  ;  and  on  the  west  Scythopolis. 

3  Stanley's  Sin.  and  Pal.,  p.  397  ;  Bob.  Bib.  Ees.,  iii.,  p.  404. 


1 


A   WITNESS    OF   THE   TRANSFIGURATION.  79 

as  Jesus  was  journeying  through  this  beautiful  region  towards  Caesarea 
Philippi,  that  John  with  his  fellow- disciples  so  emphatically  professed 
their  faith,  in  the  words,  "  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living 
God."1  It  was  made  in  answer  to  Christ's  own  question :  "Whom  say 
ye  that  I  am  ?  "  From  this  time  Christ  began  more  distinctly  to 
teach  them, — as  distinctly  as  words  could  do  it, — that  He  must  go  to 
Jerusalem,  suffer  many  things,  and  be  killed,  but  that  He  should  rise 
again ;  and  to  set  before  them  the  self -denying,  cross-bearing  life, 
which  would  inevitably  be  theirs  as  His  followers,  and  in  performing 
the  work  specially  allotted  to  them.  It  no  doubt  put  them  to  a  severe 
test.  Their  minds  had  been  filled  with  visions  of  a  temporal  kingdom, 
in  the  honours  of  which  they  were  to  have  a  principal  share.  It  was 
difficult  for  them  to  be  reconciled  to  the  idea  that  His  enemies  were  to 
triumph  over  Him, — that  He  must  suffer  and  die.  Peter  cried  out, 
speaking,  no  doubt,  representatively,  as  in  the  confession  just  pre- 
viously made  he  had  done  (i.e.,  expressing  the  feelings  of  John  and 
other  associates,  as  well  as  his  own),  "  Be  it  far  from  Thee,  Lord  ;  this 
shall  not  happen  unto  Thee."  2 

Soon  after  this  conversation,  our  Lord  took  John,  with  Peter  and 
James,  np  into  a  high  mountain,  identified  by  ecclesiastical  tradition 
with  Mount  Tabor,  the  highest  peak  of  Galilee,  but  more  probably  one 
of  the  summits  forming  part  of  the  magnificent  chain  of  Great  Hermon, 
lying  to  the  north  of  Caesarea  Philippi.  It  is  impossible  to  look  up 
from  the  plain  to  these  towering  peaks,  and  not  be  struck  with  the 
appropriateness  of  some  one  of  these  to  the  scene.  Here,  one  of  the 
most  wonderful  events  with  which  the  history  of  John  is  connected, 
nay,  one  of  the  most  wonderful  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures,  took  place. 
As  Jesus  prayed3  a  sudden  and  most  astonishing  change  took  place  in 
His  whole  appearance.  It  was  tha.t  which  is  known  as  the  transfigu- 
ration. They  saw  the  fashion  of  His  countenance  change,  till  it  shone 
like  the  sun,  and  His  garments  became  "white  and  glistering,"  4  "white 
as  snow,  so  as  no  fuller  on  earth  can  white  them."  If  the  transfigu- 
ration took  place  at  night,  as  supposed  by  Dean  Alford  and  others,  it 
would  of  course  serve  to  make  this  brightness  appear  only  the  brighter. 
It  was  a  glory,  not  shed  upon  Him  or  around  Him  from  other  sources, 
but  which  broke  forth  from  that  fulness  of  the  Godhead  which  dwelt  in 
Him.  The  rays  of  His  divinity  shone  through  the  thin  veil  of  His 
humanity,  affording  a  feeble  glimpse  of  the  glory,  which  He,  as  the 
brightness  of  the  Father's,  had  in  Himself.  It  was  unspeakable,  beyond 

1  Matt.  xvi.  13-28 ;  Mark  viii.  27-30. 

2  Matt.  xvi.  21-23. 

3  Luke  ix.  29. 

4  -,  flashing  forth  light. 


80  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

all  earthly  splendour,  such  as  mortal  eye  had  never  seten  before,  and 
such  as  will  never  be  seen  again  till  the  second  advent  of  the  Lord. 

To  add  to  the  grandeur  of  the  scene,  two  other  personages  appear, 
one  of  whom  had  been  in  heaven  nearly  fifteen  hundred  years,  and  the 
other  nearly  a  thousand,  arrayed  in  celestial  brightness,  who  enter  into 
conversation  with  the  transfigured  Christ  on  the  very  subject  on 
which  He  had  been  conversing  with  His  disciples,  "  His  decease,  which 
He  should  accomplish  at  Jerusalem."  Here  were  these  ambassadors 
from  the  city  of  God,  representing  the  law  and  the  prophets  of  the  Old 
Testament ; — here  were  Peter,  James,  and  John,1  the  pillars  of  the  New 
Testament  Church ;  here  was  the  great  Head  of  the  Church  ;  about 
them,  doubtless,  the  holy  angelic  hosts.  A  cloud  floats  near  the  top  of  the 
mountain,  illuminated  as  if  it  embosomed  a  sun,  or  the  Day-spring  from 
on  high  was  tabernacling  within  it.  As  they  entered  into  the  cloud,  or 
the  cloud  began  to  envelope  them,  Moses  and  Elias  disappeared,  and 
they  saw  them  no  more.  And  there  came  a  voice  out  of  the  cloud,  as 
from  ONE  making  it  his  chariot,  or  his  pavilion,  who  said,  "  This  is  my 
beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased;  hear  ye  Him."  It  was  He 
who  had  just  spoken  of  suffering  and  dying  of  whom  the  voice  spake, 
whom  John  and  Peter  were  to  see  led  bound  as  a  prisoner  by  Roman 
soldiers,  treated  with  contempt  by  sneering  Jewish  priests,  crowned 
with  thorns,  buffetted  and  spit  upon,  and  dying  on  the  accursed  tree. 
The  transfiguration  was  a  manifestation  designed  to  assure  John  and 
Peter  and  James,  and,  through  them,  their  associates  in  the  Apostolate, 
that  their  faith  was  well  founded  in  Him  as  the  promised  Saviour  of  the 
world ;  to  cast  some  rays  of  light  forward  on  the  dark  days  just  ahead  ; 
to  relieve  the  gloom  of  Gethsemane,  and  the  midnight  which  was  ere 
long  to  hang  at  noon  around  the  heights  of  Calvary.  And  what  John 
saw  and  heard  in  the  "  holy  mount,"  prepared  him  to  understand  some 
of  the  wonders  that  were  to  be  displayed  before  his  rapt  vision  in  the 
island  of  Patmos,  and  which  were  introduced  by  the  sight  of  One,  like 
unto  the  Son  of  man,  walking  amidst  the  golden  candlesticks,  whose 
countenance  was  as  the  sun  shineth  in  his  strength,  and  His  feet  like 
unto  fine  brass,  as  if  they  burned  in  a  furnace.2  Amid  the  terrors  of 
the  night  in  the  garden,  and  of  the  day  of  crucifixion,  John  could  not 
forget  the  scene  in  the  mount ;  and  during  his  long  and  eventful  life, 
however  severe  the  conflict  or  dark  the  prospect,  he  could  not  forget 

1  Lampe  thus  states  the  reason  why  (Triga  ilia)  this  triad  was  selected  to  be 
with  Christ  on  this  occasion,  and  several  others  of  great  interest  and  import- 
ance :  "  Causam  cur  tres  hos  discipulos,  e/cXe/crwj'  c/cXefcrorepous,  eleganter  nominat 
Clemens  Alexandrinus,  caeteris  totiens  prastulerit  Salvator,  recte  summi  Theologi  in 
liberrima  Domini  voluntate  posuerunt." 

2  Eev.  i.  13-16. 


FAULTS    OF   CHARACTER.  81 

that  scene  !  The  mystery  of  the  Lord's  person,  as  both  Divine  and 
human,  which  had  been  discerned  and  professed,  when  He  said  with 
Peter,  that  "  He  was  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God,"  was  now 
more  clearly  revealed.  It  was  a  truth  far  surpassing  the  common 
Jewish  conception  of  the  Messiah ;  and  it  took  the  deepest  hold  of  the 
mind  and  heart  of  the  apostle,  as  is  clearly  evinced  by  his  history  and 
writings. 

Again  Jesus  foretells  His  death  and  resurrection  in  the  plainest  lan- 
guage.1 The  disciples,  still  mistaking  the  nature  of  the  kingdom  of 
Christ,  ask  Him,  "  Who  is  the  greatest  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ?  " 
He  places  a  little  child  in  the  midst  of  them,  and  gives  them  an  im- 
pressive lesson  on  humility,  which  He  follows  with  important  discourses 
exemplifying  the  suggestiveness  and  richness  of  His  instructions  on 
all  occasions,  on  offences,  forbearance,  and  forgiveness  of  enemies.2 

But  John,  privileged  with  instructions  like  these,  beloved  as  he  was, 
was  by  no  means  free  from  faults,  faults  of  the  gravest  character. 
The  Saviour  loved  sinners ;  He  loved  imperfect  men.  John  was  not 
one  of  those  tame,  spiritless  beings,  whom  it  seems  as  difficult  to  love 
as  to  hate.  He  had  an  aspiring,  resolute,  retaliatory,  daring  spirit.  It 
was  not  far  from  this  period  that  the  record  made  by  Mark  and  Luke  3 
concerning  him  occurred.  John  said,  "  Master,  we  saw  one  casting 
out  devils  in  Thy  name,  and  he  followeth  not  us,  and  we  forbade  him. 
But  Jesus  said,  Forbid  him  not,  for  he  that  is  not  against  us  is  for 
us."  * 

It  was  shortly  after  this  that  he  accompanied  Jesus  as  He  was  going 
up  to  the  festival  of  Tabernacles  at  Jerusalem  (having  taken  His 
final  leave  of  Galilee  before  His  crucifixion),  through  central  Palestine, 
the  route  by  which  He  had  travelled  on  a  former  occasion  (in  going 
from  Judaea  to  Galilee),  which  led  through  the  beautiful  vale  of 
Shechem  and  over  the  smiling  hills  of  Ephraim.  As  the  inhabitants 
of  a  certain  Samaritan  village  would  not  receive  Him,  that  is,  show 
Him  hospitality,  James  and  John  cried  out,  "  Lord,  wilt  Thou  that  we 
command  fire  to  come  down  from  heaven,  and  consume  them,  even  as 
Elias  did  ?  "  5  HE  around  whom  heaven  had  shone  with  such  bright- 
ness on  the  mount  was  treated  with  disdain  by  these  obscure  villagers. 

1  Matt.  xvii.  22,  23  ;  Mark  ix.  30-32  ;  Luke  ix.  43-45. 

2  Matt,  xviii.  1-35 ;  Mark  ix.  33-50 ;  Luke  ix.  46-50. 

3  Mark  ix.  38-41 ;  Luke  ix.  49,  50. 

4  "  Hie  autem  exserte  introducetur  imprudentiam  tarn  fac to,  quam  dicto  osten- 
dens.    In  facto,  quod  Joanni  cum  aliis  discipulis  commune  fuit,  hoc  erat  vitium, 
quod   non  constabat,  quo   animo    ille  daemonia  ejiciens   erga   Jesum    fuerit,  et 
nihilominus  ilium  increparent"  (Lampe,  Joannis  Proleg.,lib.  i.,  c.  ii.,  §  18).      He 
is  very  acute  on  what  he  styles  thencevos,  blemishes,  of  St.  John. 

6  Luke  ix.  51-56. 

G 


82  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF   ST.  JOHN. 

The  anger  of  the  two  brethren  was  kindled.  Vengeance  was  in  their 
hearts.1  Their  fierce  Galilean  spirit  was  aroused  ;  they  remembered  the 
old  ancestral  hatred.  But  Christ  told  them  they  knew  not  what 
manner  of  spirit  they  were  of. 

Arriving  at  Jerusalem  about  the  middle  of  the  feast,  John  heard  the 
Saviour  boldly  assert  His  Messiahship,  in  the  presence  of  a  large  com- 
pany of  people ;  and  he  was  with  Him  from  day  to  day,  as  He  put 
to  confusion  His  enemies,  and  convinced  many  that  He  was  what 
He  claimed  to  be,  the  Messiah.2  He  appears  with  Him  again  in 
Jerusalem,  at  the  feast  of  Dedication,  in  the  winter,  walking  in 
Solomon's  porch,3  and  heard  Him  declare  so  plainly  to  the  party 
hostile  to  Him,  "I  and  My  Father  are  one,"  that  they  would  have 
stoned  Him  on  the  spot,  had  He  not  escaped  and  retired  beyond  the 
Jordan.  He  was  with  Him  when  He  was  summoned  back  to  Beth- 
any by  the  illness  of  Lazarus,  and  when  He  performed  the  aston- 
ishing miracle  of  raising  him  from  the  dead  after  a  burial  of  four 
days.  He  alone  of  the  evangelists  records  this  great  miracle.4  It  was 
the  miracle,  so  great  an  impression  did  it  produce  at  Jerusalem,  which 
led  the  Sanhedrin  formally  to  decree  His  death.  Jesus,  therefore  re- 
tired, as  His  work  was  not  yet  done,  from  Jerusalem ;  and  we  find  Him 
again  in  Persea,  the  country  east  of  the  Jordan.  John  was  with  Him 
here,  and  listened  to  an  important  course  of  instruction  on  a  large 
variety  of  subjects.  He  uttered  at  this  period  of  His  ministry  some 
of  His  most  interesting  and  instructive  parables :  e.g.,  the  great  sup- 
per, the  lost  sheep,  the  lost  piece  of  silver,  the  prodigal  son,  the  un- 
just steward,  Lazarus  at  the  rich  man's  gate,  the  importunate  widow, 
the  unjust  judge,  the  Pharisee  and  the  publican,  and  the  labourers  in 
the  vineyard.  As  He  sets  His  face  once  more  towards  Jerusalem,  He 
again  foretells  His  death  and  resurrection. 5 

1  "Observari  hie  potest  immitis  quasdam  iracundia,  quae  hos  discipulos  praa  aliis 
corripuisse  videtur.     Ilia  eo  vitiosior  erat,  quia  a  Magistro  toties  edocti  erant  ipsos 
inimicos  diligere.     Et  hi  tamen  non  tantum  malum  malo  referri  ex  talionis  lege 
volunt,  sed  omnes  etiam   illius  loci  incolas  cum  conjugibus,  et  liberis  protenus 
extinctos  cupiunt,  qui  etsi  hospitium  negassent,  salvos  tamen  dimiserunt.  Prasterea 
abutuntur  Scripture  authoritate  et  Elias  exemplum  ad  se  transferunt,  atque  huic 
pares  esse  volunt,  cum  vocationem  similem  non  habeant "  (Lampe,  Proleg.  I.,  ii.  19). 

2  John  vii.,  viii.,  and  ix. 

3  'Ei>  T-fi  ffroa  SoAcytu^os.     This  was  a  part  of  Solomon's  temple  which  had  been 
incorporated  in  the  new  edifice.     It  fronted  to  the  east.     Jos.  Ant.,  xx.,  9  (7). 

4  For  the  silence  of  the  synoptists  in  regard  to  this  great  miracle,  it  is  not  so  easy 
to  account.     That  it  was  due  to  a  prudential  regard  to  the  surviving  family  of 
Lazarus,  in  order  to  avoid  attracting  to  it  the  attention  of  Jewish  fanatics  seems 
hardly  consistent  with  the  spirit  and  character  of  the  evangelists.     Meyer  (ed.  5th, 
p.  439)  explains  the  omission,  from  their  plan  to  confine  themselves  to  the  Galilean 
ministry  of  Jesus. 

6  John  x.,  xi. ;  Luke  xiii.,  xiv.,  xv.,  xvi.,  xvii.,  xviii. 


HIS   AMBITION.  83 

We  come  now  to  an  incident  in  the  history  of  John  which  strikingly 
illustrates  the  difficult  task  which  Christ  had  undertaken  of  infusing 
right  notions  of  His  kingdom  into  the  minds  of  even  the  best  of  pupils. 
John,  in  company  with  his  brother  James,  through  their  mother,  prefer 
an  ambitious  request,  which  greatly  disturbed  the  other  apostles.1  On 
one  occasion,  Christ  had  informed  His  disciples  that  when  seated  on 
His  throne  in  His  kingdom,  they  should  sit  around  Him  on  twelve 
thrones  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel.2  With  their  old  inherited 
views  of  a  temporal  kingdom,  this  information  was  enough  to  inspire 
the  hearts  of  the  sons  of  Zebedee  with  visions  of  glory.  At  once  they 
aspired  to  the  chief  places,  and  enlisted  their  mother,3  one  of  the  pious 
women  who  ministered  to  Christ,  to  unite  with  them  in  a  petition  for 
these  places.  In  their  minds  they  had  pictured  a  scene  of  earthly 
grandeur.  They  saw  a  gorgeous  palace,  with  an  imperial  throne,  on 
which  was  seated  the  Master  whom  they  followed,  and  on  either  hand 
six  thrones  for  His  twelve  apostles.  They  wished  to  be  permitted  to 
occupy  the  thrones  on  the  right  and  the  left,  nearest  to  the  one 
occupied  by  Christ  Himself;  that  is,  to  rank  next  to  Him  in  dignity 
and  honour.  And  this  after  they  had  been  so  long  with  Him  who  was 
meek  and  lowly  in  heart,  and  who  was  so  near  the  end  of  His  ministry ! 
Mistaken  disciples !  How  hard  it  was  for  them  to  learn  that  the  only 
earthly  crown  of  their  Master  was  to  be  a  wreath  of  thorns  on  bleeding 
brows,  His  only  royal  robe  some  worn-out  vestment  of  a  Herod  or 
Pilate,  put  on  Him  in  mockery,  His  only  sceptre  a  brittle  reed  !  How 
hard  to  understand  that  He  was  to  be  proclaimed  king  of  an  earthly 
state,  only  by  the  mocking  inscription  on  the  cross  which  was  to  bear 
up  His  lacerated  body !  They  did  not  know  that  to  ask  for  dis- 
tinction in  His  kingdom  was  to  ask  for  a  share  in  the  cup  and 
baptism  of  His  sufferings.  That  share  in  due  time  they  received, 
one,  the  first  apostolic  martyr  to  appease  the  vindictive  spirit  of  the 
same  enemies  who  imbrued  their  hands  in  the  Saviour's  blood  ;4  the 

1  Matt.  xx.  20-28. 

2  Matt,  xix.28. 

3  "  Hoc  splendidissimum  domus  suas  erat  decus,  hie  summus  felicitatis  apex,  duos 
tarn  illustres  in  bellis  Jehovas  heroas,  duas  stellas  in  regno  coelorum  prhni  ordinis, 
quales  Jacobus  et  Johannes  erant,  utero  gessisse"  (Lampe,  Proleg.  I.,  i.  2). 

4  "  Even  admitting  that  the  legend  of  the  poison  and  the  boiling  oil  has  no 
historical  foundation,  it  is  still  true  that  St.  John  as  well  as  St.  James  pre-eminently 
shared  his  Master's  cup  and  baptism"  (Dr.  J.  Addison  Alexander  on  Mark  x.  39). 
"  We  know  not  how  deep  he  (the  latter)  drank  of  the  cup  of  sorrow  during  the 
course  of  years  between  the  time  of  Christ's  prophecy  regarding  his  future  lot  and 
his  violent  death.     We  know  not  how  often  he  was  plagued,  and  how  painfully  he 
was  baptized  in  the  waves  of  tribulation  going  over  his  head,  ere  his  work  was 
done  and  his  testimony  finished  on  the  earth.     But  this  we  know  well,  that  the 
cup  which  his  Master  drank  was  his  to  drink  also,  that  the  baptism  of  his  Master 


84  THE    LIFE    AXD   WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

other,  bearing  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day,  long  the  last  survivor 
of  the  little  band  whom  men  used  to  think  it  a  form  of  God's  service 
to  persecute ! 

But  the  end  of  the  period  of  pupilage  of  the  beloved  disciple  draws 
near,  and  we  are  about  to  see  him  in  the  most  interesting  points  of  his 
history,  and  under  the  most  impressive  scenes  in  his  personal  connec- 
tion with  the  ministry  and  teaching  of  our  Lord. 

Six  days  before  the  Passover,  he  reaches  Bethany  with  Jesus.  It 
was  on  the  evening  of  the  following  day,  probably,  that  the  supper 
occurred  at  which  the  risen  Lazarus  was  present,  and  his  sister  Mary 
anointed  the  head  of  the  Lord  with  precious  ointment.1  John  saw 
his  Master  on  the  following  day,  (corresponding  to  our  Sunday,) 
amidst  the  waving  of  palm  branches,  and  the  hosannas  of  the  people, 
make  His  triumphal  entry  into  Jerusalem,  in  the  fulfilment  of 
prophecy.  He  goes  with  Him  to  the  temple,  where  He  is  welcomed  by 
the  children.  In  the  two  following  days  an  immense  amount  of.  in- 
struction was  concentrated.  He  goes  out  with  Him  at  evening  to 
Bethany,  returning  to  the  temple  with  Him  in  the  morning,  listening 
to  what  He  says  to  His  disciples  by  the  way,  and  to  what  He  says  to 
His  enemies,  who  were  tempting  Him  by  their  questions  in  the  temple. 
He  seems  to  have  drunk  in  every  word  of  His  predictions  concerning 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  as  He  walked  along  its  streets,  or  looked 
back  surveying  the  devoted  city  from  the  sides  of  Olivet.2 

On  Thursday,  the  14th  of  the  Jewish  month  Nisan,  "  the  day  of  un- 
leavened bread,"  called  also  "  the  preparation  of  the  passover,"  Peter 
and  John  were  sent  into  the  city  to  make  preparations  for  celebrating 
this  feast.  Christ  told  them  that  they  should  meet  a  man  in  the  streets 
bearing  a  pitcher  of  water,  whom  they  were  to  follow  to  his  house,  and 
say  to  him,  "The  Master  saith  to  thee,  Where  is  the  guest-chamber, 
where  I  shall  eat  the  passover  with  My  disciples  ?  "  In  this  incident, 
John  and  his  companion  had  new  proof  of  the  prophetic  power,  or 
prevision,  and  the  power  of  miracles  possessed  by  Christ,  in  His 
foresight  that  they  would  meet  a  man  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem 
carrying  a  pitcher  of  water,  and  in  the  prompt  obedience  of  this 

was  his  also  wherewith  to  be  baptized,  and  that  he  was  not  only  one  of  the 
'  glorious  company  of  the  apostles,'  but  also  of  '  the  noble  army  of  the  martyrs,' 
slain  '  for  the  witness  of  Jesus  and  for  the  word  of  God'  "  (Trench's  Life  and  Cha- 
racter of  St.  John,  p.  72). 

1  St.  Matt.  xxvi.  6-13  ;  John  xiii.  1-11. 

2  St.  John  was  one  of  the  four  disciples  mentioned  by  St.  Mark  (xiii.  3-5),  Peter 
James,  and  Andrew  being  the  others,  to  whom  Jesus  declared  the  prophecies  con- 
cerning the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  far-reaching  ones  with  which   they 
were  connected,  and  which  were  to  be  more  fully  declared  by  St.  John  himself  in 
the  Apocalypse. 


PREPARING   FOR   PASSOVER.  85 

stranger  (as  we  may  presume  him  to  have  been,  or  his  name  would 
have  been  given)  to  Christ,  to  show  them  a  chamber  in  his  house  where 
they  might  make  ready.1  A  precisely  analogous  case  of  prevision  and 
miraculous  power  over  the  human  will  occurred  when  the  two.  disciples 
were  sent,  as  Jesus  was  approaching  Jerusalem,  to  a  neighbouring 
village  to  procure  the  animal  on  which  He  was  to  make  His  triumphal 
entry  into  Jerusalem.2  The  paschal  lamb  was  slain  between  the  hour 
of  evening  sacrifice,  the  ninth  hour,  or  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
and  sunset,  at  which  the  15th  of  Nisan,  the  day  of  the  crucifixion 
began.  John  or  Peter,  representing  the  household  or  company  to 
which  they  belonged,  was  to  aid  the  Levites  in  sacrificing  the  lamb. 
It  was  then  to  be  carried  to  the  house  where  it  was  to  be  eaten,  and 
they  were  also  to  provide  bread  and  wine,  bitter  herbs,  and  all  that 
was  necessary  for  the  proper  celebration  of  the  feast. 

1  Luke  xxii.   7-14.     "  It  may  be  observed,"  says  Trench,  "  that  a  great  pecu- 
liarity was  attached  to  the  circumstance  of  a  '  man  bearing  a  pitcher  of  water.' 
It  would  have  been  no  sign  to  speak  of  a  woman  bearing  a  pitcher  of  water ;  for 
that  business  always  has  been,  and  is  still,  the  exclusive  task  of  the  women. 
An  Eastern  missionary  brought  this  to  my  notice  "  (Life  and  Character  of  St. 
John,  p.  85,  note). 

2  Matt.  xxi.  2,  3.     See  an  ingenious  and  suggestive  discourse  on  this  subject 
by  Henry  Melville,  Sermons,  new  edit.  1844,  p.  534. 

"  We  can  declare  the  incident  before  us,"  he  says,  "  a  singular  exhibition  of  the 
power  of  prophecy  and  the  power  of  miracle ;  an  exhibition,  moreover,  as  appro- 
priate as  it  was  striking.  We  can  suppose  that  our  Redeemer,  knowing  the  bitter 
trials  to  which'  His  disciples  were  about  to  be  exposed,  desired  to  give  them  some 
proof  of  His  superhuman  endowments,  which  might  encourage  them  to  rely  on 
His  protection  when  He  should  no  longer  be  visible  among  them.  What  shall  be 
the  proof  ?  Shall  He  control  the  tumultuous  elements  ?  Shall  He  summon  legions 
of  angels  ?  Shall  He  shake  Jerusalem  with  the  earthquake  ?  Shall  He  divide  the 
Jordan  ?  Nay ;  it  was  not  by  any  stupendous  demonstration  that  the  timid  disciples 
were  likely  to  be  assured.  They  rather  required  to  be  taught  that  the  knowledge 
and  power  of  their  Master  extended  to  mean  and  inconsiderable  things,"  etc. 


CHAPTER  V. 

PREPARATION  FOR  HIS  WORK,  FROM  INTERCOURSE  AND 
INSTRUCTION  IN  PRIVATE,  IN  THE  LAST  DAYS  OF 
CHRIST,  ESPECIALLY  AS  A  WITNESS  OF  THE  CRUCI- 
FIXION. 

CELEBRATION     OF    THE     PASSOVER. — STRIFE. WASHING     DISCIPLES*    FEET. — 

TREACHERY  OF  JUDAS  FORETOLD. ST.  PETER'S  DENIAL  FORETOLD. — IN- 
STITUTION OF  THE  SUPPER. VALEDICTORY  ADDRESS. INTERCESSORY 

PRAYER. — GARDEN     OF    GETHSEMANE. — THE     AGONY. — ST.    JOHN     PRESENT. 

— ST.    PETER   AND    HIS    SWORD. FLIGHT     OF     THE     DISCIPLES. — ST.    JOHN 

REGAINS  HIS  NATURAL  BRAVERY. — ST.  JOHN  ALONE  ACCOMPANIES  CHRIST 
TO  THE  PALACE  OF  THE  HIGH-PRIEST. — PALACE  DESCRIBED. — ST.  PETER 

ADMITTED   AT     THE     REQUEST     OF    ST.    JOHN. JESUS    LED    BEFORE    PILATE. 

— CHARGED  WITH  SEDITION. — BEFORE  HEROD. — MOCKED. — HEROD  AND 
PILATE  MADE  FRIENDS. — AGAIN  BEFORE  PILATE. — PILATE'S  WIFE. — ST. 
JOHN  AT  THE  SIDE  OF  CHRIST. — BEARING  THE  CROSS. — SIMON  THE 

CYRENEAN. THE    PENITENT   THIEF. \VHAT     ST.    JOHN    WAS     TAUGHT. — ST. 

JOHN   AND    THE    MOTHER   OF   JESUS. THE     BLOOD   AND     THE    WATER    SEEN 

BY    ST.    JOHN. 

WHILE  many  others  were  instructed  and  blessed  through  His  minis- 
trations, the  chief  end  of  the  Saviour  evidently  was  to  prepare  for 
their  great  office  those  to  whom  He  was  to  commit  the  work  of  estab- 
lishing His  kingdom.  Never  had  men  such  teacher  before.  For 
three  years  they  were  under  the  careful  training  of  Him  who  knew 
all  the  secrets  of  mind  as  well  as  heart.  But  of  all  the  discourses 
and  scenes  in  our  Lord's  history,  which  were  fitted  to  make  abiding 
salutary  impressions,  none  were  more  so  than  those  which  distin- 
guished the  concluding  period  of  His  visible  presence  with  them  on 
earth.  We  are,  as  far  as  possible,  to  place  ourselves  by  the  side  of 
"the  beloved  disciple,"  and  hear  what  he  heard,  and  see  what  he  saw. 

As  the  shadows  of  the  evening  gather,  or  soon  after  it  becomes 
dark,  Jesus  and  His  disciples  assemble  in  the  large  upper  room,  which 
had  been  discovered  by  Peter  and  John  in  a  manner  which  so  strikingly 
exhibited  to  them  the  presence  and  power  of  their  Master  and  Lord. 
Although  it  was  the  fifth  day  of  the  week,  or  Thursday,  the  evening 
which  now  commenced,  introduced  according  to  the  Jewish  method 
of  dividing  time,  the  sixth  day,  or  Friday.1  The  whole  nation  are 

1  The  time  of  killing  the  paschal  lamb  was  between  the  ninth  and  eleventh 


FEET.  87 

engaged  in  the  same  solemn  service.  Even  His  enemies  cease  for  a 
time  from  their  plottings.  The  din  of  the  crowd  has  subsided,  and  an 
unusual  quiet,  although  Jerusalem  is  full  of  people,  reigns  throughout 
its  streets.  The  great  PASCHAL  LAMB,  although  but  few  may  have  any 
knowledge  of  the  nearness  of  the  event  prefigured  by  so  many  thou- 
sands of  victims  since  the  exodus  from  Egypt  on  that  dreadful  night 
of  the  flight  of  the  destroying  angel,  was  about  to  be  led  to  the 
slaughter.  With  one  of  the  cups  of  wine  in  His  hands,  which  had 
been  provided  for  the  feast,1  Jesus  gives  thanks,  and  the  feast  pro- 
ceeds. He  tells  them  with  pathetic  tenderness  that,  before  He  drank 
the  fruit  of  the  vine  again,  the  kingdom  of  God  should  come.  The 
old  strife,  which  of  them  should  be  accounted  greatest  in  that  king- 
dom, arose.  If  they  could  have  foreseen  the  events  of  the  next  few 
hours,  would  they  have  spent  any  of  the  moments  of  that  solemn 
interview  in  vain  jangling  about  mere  rank  and  place  ?  Our  Lord 
seized  upon  the  opportunity  to  renew  the  instructions  which  it  was  so 
evident  were  still  needed  by  His  disciples.  Did  the  strife  originate, 
this  time,  with  the  ambition  of  John  and  his  brother,  or  did  it  extend 
through  the  ranks  of  the  entire  twelve  ?  He  tenderly  sought  to  recall 
them  to  the  contemplation  of  His  own  example.  He  would  have  them  be 
not  like  the  kings  and  lords  of  the  nations,  who  exercise  authority 
over  their  fellow-men,  but  like  Himself,  who  had  been  among  them  as 
one  that  serveth,  as  one  who  performs  the  part  of  a  menial  or  waiter, 
while  others  partake  of  the  feast.  It  was  the  spirit  of  humility,  of 
self -forgetting  concern  and  love  for  others,  which  the  Saviour  sought 
to  promote  in  His  followers,  and  which  could  alone  prepare  them  for 
their  proper  place  in  the  promised  kingdom.  And  then  He  reiterates 
the  assurance  of  that  kingdom :  "  I  appoint  unto  you  a  kingdom,  as 
My  Father  hath  appointed  unto  Me ;  that  ye  may  eat  and  drink  at  My 
table  in  My  kingdom,  and  sit  on  thrones,  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of 
Israel."2 

That  He  might  more  deeply  impress  on  His  disciples  the  lesson  that 
they  should   live  in   harmony  and   humility  one   with  another,3  the 

hour,  i.e.,  between  our  three  and  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  dirb  eVra-njs  u>paj 
/^X/oi  e"8f/fdr77s.  (Josephus's  Wars,  vi.,  9  (3).)  It  was  eaten  the  same  evening  : 
Exod.  xii.  8  ;  Num.  xxxiii.  3.  The  true  time  of  killing  the  passover  in  our  Lord's 
day  was  towards  sunset  of  the  14th  of  Nisan.  The  time  of  eating  was  the  same 
evening,  or  after  the  beginning  of  the  15th,  as  the  Jews  commenced  their  day 
at  sunset. 

1  Four  cups  of  red  wine  mingled  with  water  were  usually  drunk  during  the 
progress  of  the  meal.     The  first  was  in  connection  with  the  blessing  invoked,  and 
corresponds  to  the  cup  mentioned  in  Luke  xxii.  17.       See  Bib.  Sac.,  Aug.,  1845,  p. 
405, seq. 

2  Luke  xxii.  24-30.  3  John  xiii.  20. 


88  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OP   ST.  JOHN. 

Saviour  rose  from  the  table  (it  was  probably  just  after  they  liad 
partaken  of  the  first  cup  of  wine,  before  the  bitter  herbs  had  been 
brought  in,  and  the  proper  meal  commenced),1  He  laid  aside  His  gar- 
ments, and  poured  water  into  a  basin,  and  proceeded  to  wash  the 
disciples'  feet.  The  question  who  should  perform  this  necessary 
service  may  have  given  rise  to  the  dispute  among  them,  just  rebuked 
by  the  Saviour.  He  washed  even  Judas's  feet,  but  did  not  fail  to 
make  an  affecting  allusion  to  that  base  act  of  which  he  was  soon  to  be 
guilty,  in  the  words  :  "  Ye  are  clean,  but  not  all."  When  He  came  to 
Peter,  that  earnest  disciple  refused  to  permit  Him  to  perform  so 
humble  a  service  for  him,  until  he  heard  the  words,  "  If  I  wash  thee 
not,  thou  hast  no  part  with  Me;"  when  he  instantly  exclaimed, 
"Lord,  not  my  feet  only,  but  also  my  hands  and  my  head."  This 
drew  from  the  Saviour  the  profound  and  practical  truth,  that  while 
there  is  a  cleansing  that  needs  no  repetition,  it  nevertheless  does  not 
dispense  with  daily  purification  ;  "  He  who  is  washed  (or  hath  bathed) 
needeth  not  save  to  wash  feet."  The  grand  lesson  of  this  touching 
scene  was,  that  in  imitation  of  Him,  their  Lord  and  Master,  who  had 
humbled  Himself,  they  were  to  seek  all  their  pre-eminence  in  humility 
and  love,  in  generous,  self-denying  services  for  one  another. 

While  the  paschal  feast  is  proceeding,  another  interesting  and  most 
thrilling  scene  occurred.  As  they  ate,  probably  in  silence,  after  what 
they  had  just  been  taught  on  the  subject  of  self-denying  love,  by  the 
words  and  example  of  their  Master,  a  visible  sadness  came  over  Him. 
He  "  was  troubled  in  spirit."  2  This  is  the  record  of  John,  who  was 
in  a  position,  as  will  be  presently  noticed,  easily  to  observe  every 
passing  expression  of  His  face.  The  cause  of  this  sadness  or  trouble 
of  spirit  is  not  long  concealed.  "  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  that 
one  of  you  shall  betray  Me,"  broke  the  painful  silence  ;  and  the  ex- 
clamation passed  from  one  to  another,  "Lord,  is  it  I  ?  Is  it  I  ?"  and 
searching  glances  went  from  face  to  face.  Simon  Peter  made  a  sign 
to  John  who  was  lying  on  Jesus'  breast,  his  posture  betokening  the 
peculiarly  endearing  tie  that  subsisted  between  them,  to  ask  who  was 
meant.  It  was  in  connection  with  this  incident,  and  as  if  to  explain 


eoprTfs,  K.r.X.  It  is  not  said  how  long  before  ;  but  the  meaning  pro- 
bably is,  that  the  feet-washing  took  place  before  the  commencement  of  the  meal 
proper.  Alford,  in  answer  to  the  question,  how  long  before  the  feast  this  took 
place,  says,  "  probably,  a  very  short  time  ;  not  more  than  one  day  at  most."  But 
Alford  held  that  the  meal  our  Lord  ate  with  His  disciples,  at  which  the  announce- 
ment was  made  that  one  of  them  should  betray  Him,  was  not  the  ordinary  pass- 
over  of  the  Jews,  but  only  in  some  sense  or  other  regarded  as  the  passover,  and 
that  it  was  eaten  on  the  evening  of  the  13th  (i.e.,  the  beginning  of  the  14th)  of 
Nisan.  See  his  note  on  Matt.  xxvi.  17-19. 
2  '  (John  xiii.  21.) 


JUDAS   ISCARIOT.  89 

his  loving  posture,  that  he  styles  himself  "the  disciple  whom  Jesus 
loved,"  a  title  which  he  repeatedly  applies  to  himself  during  the  short 
residue  of  the  Lord's  history  from  his  pen.  His  position1  enabled 
him  to  observe  what  others  did  not  see,  and  to  hear  what  others  did 
not  hear.  This  may  be  one  of  the  reasons  why  he  records  discourses 
not  contained  in  the  other  evangelists,  two  of  whom  were  not  of  the 
number  of  the  apostles.  To  John's  question,  "Lord,  who  is  it?" 
Jesus  replied,  "  He  it  is  to  whom  I  shall  give  a  sop,2  when  I  have 
dipped  it."  At  length  Judas  summons  sufficient  assurance  to  ask  the 
question,  "Master,  is  it  I?"  Instantly  he  received  the  sop  at  the 
hands  of  Jesus,  with  the  words,  "  That  thou  doest,  do  quickly." 
Judas  went  immediately  out.  The  twilight  was  passed.  "  It  was 
night."  3  Darkness  shrouded  the  form  of  the  wretched  guilty  man  as  he 
hurried  away  through  the  nearly  deserted  streets.  Scarcely  any  sound 
vied  with  the  echo  of  his  own  footsteps,  save  the  moaning  of  the  night 
wind  through  the  valleys  and  the  gorges  of  the  mountains,  which  were 
round  about  Jerusalem.  At  some  appointed  place,  the  chief  priests, 
or  their  agents,  with  their  silver,  awaited  his  coming.  After  Judas 
had  departed,  these  striking  words  fell  from  the  Saviour's  lips :  "  Now 
is  the  Son  of  man  glorified,  and  God  is  glorified  in  Him.  If  God  be 
glorified  in  Him,  God  shall  also  glorify  Him  in  Himself,  and  shall 
straightway  glorify  Him."  Let  the  traitor  go;  let  the  unclean  be 
separated  from  the  clean ;  let  him  do  that  which  he  has  resolved  to  do 
quickly.  I  shall  only  the  sooner  be  glorified,  and  God  shall  be  glorified 
in  Me.  Could  John  ever  forget  these  words  or  the  occasion  of  them, 
or  when  tenderly  turning  to  the  eleven  He  added:  "Little  children, 
yet  a  little  while  I  am  with  you.  Ye  shall  seek  Me,  and  as  I  said 
unto  the  Jews,  ...  so  now  I  say  to  you.  A  new  command- 
ment I  give  unto  you,  That  ye  love  one  another."4  Late  in  life,  in 
the  very  latest  of  his  writings,  we  have  evidence  that  this  new  com- 
mandment still  rang  in  his  ears.  And  when,  according  to  tradition, 
in  extreme  old  age,  he  had  to  be  carried  into  the  church,  and  could 
only,  as  he  lifted  his  trembling  hands,  utter  a  few  words,  they  were, 
"  Little  children,  love  one  another." 

1  The  Jews  had  adopted  the  Persian  manner  of   reclining  at  their  meals  on 
divans  or  couches,  each  on  his  left  side,  with  his  face  towards  the  table.     Thus  the 
second  guest  to  the  right  hand  would  lie  with  his  head  near  the  breast  of  the  first, 
and  so  on.    (Liicke,  ii.,  p.  565.)     This  explains  what  is  meant  by  the  "  leaning"  of 
one  of   the  disciples  on  Jesus's  bosom,  Keifj.evos    .     .     .    eV  ry  /c6X7ry  TOV  'Irjtrov. 
That  John  is  the  disciple  meant  there  can  be  no  doubt.     See  also  John  xix.  26 ; 
xxi.  7  and  20. 

2  T6  ^w^Lov ,  morsel. 

3  John  xiii.  30. 

4  John  xiii.  21-35. 


90  THE    LIFE   AND   WETTINGS   OF    ST.  JOHN. 

But  another  painful  communication  remained  to  be  made  by  Jesus 
to  His  disciples.  It  was  introduced  in  this  wise  :  as  He  had  told 
them  He  was  going  away,  Peter  wished  to  know  whither  He  was 
going,  and  why  he  could  not  accompany  Him ;  adding,  "  I  will  lay 
down  my  life  for  Thy  sake."  "  Lord,  I  am  ready  to  go  with  Thee  both 
to  prison  and  to  death."1  How  little  he  knew  himself,  or  the  severity 
of  the  trial  at  hand!  "I  tell  thee,  Peter,  the  cock  shall  not  crow 
[before  the  cock  crow  twice]  this  day,  before  that  thou  shalt  thrice 
deny  that  thou  knowest  Me."2 

The  passover  meal  was  now  ended ;  but  in  connection  with  the  third 
cup,  the  "cup  of  blessing,"  which  terminated  that  feast,  the  Lord  pro- 
ceeded to  a  most  solemn  and  interesting  service;  He  instituted  the 
holy  sacrament  of  His  supper.  He  took  of  the  fragments  of  that  great 
Jewish  festival  which  had  been  celebrated  so  many  hundreds  of  years, 
but  which  was  now,  as  a  type,  to  have  its  accomplishment,  and  conse- 
crated them  to  a  new  and  nobler  use,  a  sacramental  use,  that  His 
death  might,  through  all  the  coming  ages  of  time,  even  to  His  second 
visible  advent,  be  showed  forth,  and  believers  in  Him  might  by  faith 
be  made  partakers  of  His  body  and  blood,  with  all  His  benefits  to  their 
spiritual  nourishment  and  growth  in  grace.  "  And  He  took  bread,  and 
gave  thanks,  and  brake  it,  and  gave  unto  them,  saying,  This  is  My 
body  which  is  given  for  you;  this  do  in  remembrance  of  Me.  Likewise 
also  the  cup  after  the  supper,  saying,  This  cup  is  the  new  testament  in 
My  blood  which  is  shed  for  you."3  If  John  still  retained  his  place  on 
the  bosom  of  Jesus,  he  was  probably  the  first  to  receive  the  bread  and 
the  cup  at  His  hands. 

In  the  fourteenth,  fifteenth,  and  sixteenth  chapters  of  the  fourth 
Gospel,  he  reports  the  address  or  addresses  which  Christ  delivered  at 
the  institution  of  this  sacrament.  How  full  of  beautiful,  weighty, 
pathetic,  and  instructive  thoughts !  These  golden  sentences  the 
beloved  disciple  with  rapt  attention  caught  as  he  leaned  on  his 
Master's  bosom.  Neither  Mark  nor  Luke  were  present  to  hear  them  ; 
and  at  the  early  period  when  Matthew  wrote,  the  general  church  may 

1  Luke  xxii.  33. 

2  Mark  xiv.  30 ;  Luke  xxii.  84.     De  Wette  supposes  that  Jesus  meant  merely 
the   division    of   the    night,   called    d\€KTopo<t>uvia,   the    cock    crowing,   between 
midnight  and  morning.     But  it  was  the  crowing  of  the  cock  (Mark  xiv.  68)  that 
roused  the  memory  and  the  conscience  of  Peter.     According  to  the  Mishna,  the 
priests  and  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  were  forbidden  to  keep  fowls  because  they 
scratched  up  unclean  worms.     And  the  scarcity  of  cocks  in  Jerusalem  seems  to  be 
intimated  by  the  absence  of  the  definite  article  before  d\<f/crw/>,  a  cock.     This  is  the 
more  noticeable  as  it  is  wanting  in  all  the  four  Gospels.     And  it  makes  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  Saviour's  prediction  only  the  more  remarkable.    The  crowing  of  a 
cock  was  an  unusual  sound  in  Jerusalem. 

3  Luke  xxii.  19,  20. 


THE   INTERCESSORY   PRAYER.  91 

not  have  been  sufficiently  prepared  to  receive  instructions  so  profound 
and  spiritual,  and  he  was  not  selected  by  the  spirit  of  inspiration  to 
put  them  on  record.1  The  chief  end  of  this  valedictory  discourse  was 
consolation,  and  its  chief  topic  the  revelation  of  the  Holy  Comforter. 
Viewed  as  a  whole,  it  may  be  regarded  as  the  fitting  casket  for  this 
precious  jewel,  the  doctrine  of  the  Comforter.  In  addition  to  consola- 
tion and  encouragement  from  the  promise  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  com- 
pensate for  His  own  departure,  He  exhorts  the  apostles  (they  were  His 
only  auditors,  and  He  was  concluding  His  special  instruction  to  them) 
to  continued  faith  in  Him,  to  zeal  and  faithfulness,  not  to  become 
estranged  from  one  another,  and  not  to  shrink  from  any  duties  their 
office  might  impose  on  account  of  dangers  and  hardships.  On  the  con- 
clusion of  His  address,  He  gives  them  the  reason  why  He  forewarned 
them  of  the  hatred  of  the  world,  and  the  offence  of  the  cross,  that  He 
might  guard  them  against  being  surprised  by  it,  and  that  they  might 
fortify  their  minds  against  the  temptation  to  give  up  either  their  stead- 
fastness or  their  comfort.2 

Upon  the  conclusion  of  His  discourse,  the  Saviour  offered  up  a 
touching  and  fervent  prayer.  It  is  one  of  the  most  wonderful  portions 
of  inspired  truth.  It  unfolds  the  grand  mystery  of  the  gospel.  In 
one  breath  the  Suppliant  speaks  as  the  incarnate  Son  of  God ;  in 
another  He  seems  to  wrestle  like  a  dependent  man.  Again  He  seems 
to  plead  as  the  Mediator  of  His  people,  but  not  unfrequently  expresses 
Himself  with  Divine  majesty  and  authority.  It  is  the  loftiest  effort  of 
the  human  spirit  to  rise  to  the  height  to  which  this  prayer  soars.  As 
the  Jewish  high  priest  on  the  day  of  atonement  was  required  to  make 
intercession  for  himself,  for  his  household,  the  priests  and  Levites,  and 
for  the  whole  nation,3  so  our  all-sufficient  High  Priest  on  this  His  great 
day  of  atonement  solemnly  interceded  with  God  His  Father  for  Him- 
self, that  He  might  be  received  into  glory,  His  original  glory  in  heaven ; 
for  His  household,  the  apostles  and  disciples,  that  God  would  preserve 
them  in  His  name,  give  them  a  spirit  of  unity  and  concord,  and  pro- 
tect them  in  and  from  the  wicked  world ;  also  for  all  future  believers, 
through  their  preaching,  that  they  might  be  endued  with  the  same 
spirit  of  unity  and  concord ;  and  for  the  conversion  of  the  whole 
world ;  and  that  finally  they  might  partake  of  His  glory  in  heaven, 
and  be  supported  by  His  love  and  presence  on  earth.4 

1  John  xiv.  26  ;  xvi.  12,  13. 

2  '«  Nowhere  throughout  the  entire  Gospel  has  the  language  of  Christ  such  perfect 
artlessness,  and  a  character  so  adapted  to  the  minds  of  His  disciples,  as  here  (xiv.  2, 
3,  16,  18,  21,  23  ;  xvi.  23,  24,  26).     As  Luther  says,  « He  speaks  as  he  must  who 
would  charm  and  win  the  simple  "  (Tholuck  on  John,  trans,  by  Krauth,  Philad.,  p.  330). 

3  Lev.  xvi.  17. 

4  See  Bloomfield's  Greek  Testament  in  loco.    It  bears  in  the  Church  the  name 


92  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

When  the  prayer  was  ended  Jesus  and  His  disciples  united  in  singing 
a  hymn  of  praise.  If  they  used  one  of  that  series  of  psalms  (known 
as  the  Hallel,  comprising  the  hundred  and  thirteenth  and  the  five 
immediately  following  it  in  the  psalter)  which  the  Jews  were  in  the 
habit  of  repeating  at  the  passover,  then  we  know  the  strains  of  adora- 
tion, confidence,  and  love  that  poured  from  their  lips.  "  Gracious  is 
the  Lord  and  righteous  ;  yea  our  God  is  merciful.  The  Lord  preserveth 
the  simple  :  I  was  "brought  low,  and  He  helped  me.  I  will  walk  before 
the  Lord,  in  the  land  of  the  living."  "  I  shall  not  die  but  live,  and 
declare  the  works  of  the  Lord.  The  Lord  has  chastened  me  sore,  but 
He  has  not  given  me  over  to  death."  "  The  stone  which  the  builders 
refused  has  become  the  head-stone  of  the  corner."  How  must  strains 
like  these  have  sounded  from  the  lips  of  the  Saviour  and  His  eleven 
followers  in  that  guest  chamber  in  Jerusalem,  jusb  as  He  was  about 
to  go  to  Gethsemane  to  be  betrayed! 

Let  us  accompany  Him  to  Gethsemane.  The  evening  is  already  far 
advanced,  the  midnight  hour  approaching.  He  leads  His  disciples  out 
of  the  city,  and  instead  of  turning  towards  Bethany  through  the  valley 
of  Siloam,  turns  in  the  other  direction,  enters  the  Valley  of  Jehoshaphat, 
and  crossing  the  brook  Kedron  just  at  the  foot  of  the  Mount  of  Olives, 
enters  the  garden,  "  which  delves  like  a  sanctuary  of  grief  into  the 
narrowest  and  darkest  depths  of  the  Valley  of  Jehoshaphat."1  Above,  in 
the  distance,  can  be  seen  gleaming  in  the  light  of  the  moon,  then  at  its 
full,  the  white  sepulchres  on  the  edge  of  the  cliffs  which  overhang  the 
valley,  and  the  lofty  porches  of  the  temple  on  Moriah.  He  takes  with 
Him  Peter  and  James  and  John,  the  same  three  who  had  seen  His 
glory  in  the  mount,  and  penetrates  farther  into  the  recesses  and 
thickets  of  the  valley,  to  make  them  now  the  witnesses  of  that  bitter 
agony  when  His  soul  was  to  be  exceeding  sorrowful.  In  His  deep  grief 
the  Man  despised  and  rejected  of  men,  the  Man  of  sorrows,  seeks  a 
more  complete  solitude.  He  withdraws  Himself  from  the  favoured 
three  who  had  accompanied  Him  thus  far,  and  hides  Himself  under  the 
shadow  of  the  trees,  the  mountain,  and  the  night.  Then  falling  on  His 
face  He  prayed,  "  0  My  Father,  if  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from 
Me  ;  nevertheless,  not  as  I  will,  but  as  Thou  wilt.  And  there  appeared 
an  angel  unto  Him  from  heaven  strengthening  Him.  And  being  in  an 
agony  He  prayed  more  earnestly ;  and  His  sweat  was  as  it  were  great 

"  Oratio  Sacerdotalis,"  the  sacerdotal  prayer.  Melanchthon  states  the  substance  of 
it  thus : — "  Primum  de  ipso  precatur,  postea  de  tota  ecclesia,  et  de  hac  petit 
quatuor  res  precipuas  ecclesise,  conservationem  verse  doctrinas,  concordiam 
ecclesiaB,  applicationem  sui  sacrificii,  et  ultimum  ac  summum  bonum,  ut  ecclesia 
cum  Christo  ornetur  vita,  laetitia,  et  gloria  seterna." 
1  Lamartine,  i. ,  p.  264. 


GETHSEMANE.  93 

drops  of  blood  falling  down  to  the  ground."1  The  wind  sighed  among 
the  olive  trees,  and  the  waters  of  the  Kedron  moaned  as  they  rolled 
over  their  rocky  bed.  "When  He  returned  to  where  He  left  the  dis- 
ciples, He  found  them  sleeping  for  sorrow.  He  went  away  the  second 
time  and  offered  the  same  prayer,  and  when  He  returned  again  found 
them  sleeping,  for  their  eyes  were  heavy.  Again  He  goes  away,  and 
a  third  time  pours  forth  the  same  prayer.  Returning  He  finds  them 
still  sleeping,  and  with  all  the  gentleness  of  a  mother,  or  tender  nurse, 
says,  "Sleep  on  now  and  take  your  rest."2  Then,  as  if  a  sudden 
rustling  among  the  thickets,  suppressed  voices,  or  the  tramp  of 
approaching  steps  broke  the  stillness  and  admonished  Him  of  the 
presence  of  His  foes,  He  cries  out  in  the  ears  of  His  sleeping  followers, 
"  It  is  enough  ;  the  hour  is  come.  Behold  the  Son  of  man  is  betrayed 
into  the  hands  of  sinners  !  Lo,  he  that  betrayeth  Me  is  at  hand  !"3  As 
He  spoke,  the  silent  shades  of  the  garden  are  illuminated  with  torches 
and  lanterns,  and  filled  with  the  confused  noise  of  an  approaching 
crowd  in  search  as  for  some  thief  or  robber.  It  is  Judas,  who  well 
knew  the  secluded  Retreat  to  which  Jesus  often  resorted  with  His  dis- 
ciples, at  the  head  of  a  band  of  Roman  soldiers  and  officers,  and  a 
rabble  such  as  would  be  attracted  at  a  late  hour  of  the  night  from  a 
large  city  by  the  martial  array  and  the  gleam  of  the  torches  and 
lanterns.  Jesus  does  not  flee,  nor  attempt  to  conceal  Himself,  but 
calmly  advances,  with  the  question,  "  Whom  seek  ye?"  At  His  words, 
"I  am  HE,"  they  went  backward  and  fell  to  the  ground  as  if  smitten 
by  invisible  hands.  He  asked  again,  "  Whom  seek  ye  ?  "4  and  Judas, 
in  fulfilment  of  his  promise,  arose  from  the  ground,  and  approaching 
with  "  Master,  Master,"  on  his  traitorous  lips,  kissed  Him.  The  stern 
soldiers  at  once  made  the  arrest.  How  like  some  terrific  dream  must 
these  sudden  events  have  seemed  to  John  and  his  companions,  just 
aroused  from  their  deep  slumber !  Peter  remembered  his  valorous 
words,  and  doubtless  thinking  that  this  was  the  time  of  trial  of  which 
his  Master  had  given  him  warning,  began  to  brandish  one  of  the 
swords  which  were  in  possession  of  the  disciples.  But  he  effected 
nothing  more  than  to  cut  off  the  ear  of  a  servant  of  the  high  priest ; 

1  Matt.  xxvi.  39  ;  Luke  xxii.  43,  44. 

2  Calvin  and  Beza  think  these  words  are  used  ironically,  by  way  of  rebuke.    And 
Meyer  says  :  "  The  profoundest  grief  of  soul,  especially  when  associated  with  such 
clearness  of  spirit,  has  its  own  irony.     And  what  an  apathy  had  Jesus  here  to 
encounter!"     Lange  adds:  "If  the  essential  principle  of  irony  is  security  and 
perfect  composure  of  spirit,  we  recognise  here  the  sacred  irony,  which  does  not 
speak  in  contempt  of  weakness,  but  in  the  triumphant  consciousness  that  the  fight 
was  already  won."     (Lange  on  Matt.  xxvi.  45.) 

3  Mark  xiv.  41,  42. 

4  John  xviii.  4-6. 


94  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF   ST.  JOHN. 

though  it  is  evident  he  came  near  destroying  a  human  life,  he  does  not 
appear  to  have  ventured  on  a  combat  with  the  soldiers.  With  a 
miraculous  touch  our  Lord  healed  the  wounded  ear,  and  commanding 
Peter  to  put  up  the  sword,  said,  "  Thinkest  thou  that  I  cannot  now 
pray  to  My  Father,  and  He  shall  give  Me  more  than  twelve  legions  of 
angels  ?"  Then  turning  to  the  multitude  He  said,  "Are  ye  come  out  as 
against  a  thief  with  swords  and  staves  for  to  take  Me  ? l  But  the 
Scripture  must  be  fulfilled." 

The  disciples  seeing  their  Master,  without  any  show  of  resistance, 
submitting  to  arrest,  and  fearing  that  what  had  befallen  Him  would 
befall  them,  as  accomplices  in  the  crime  that  might  be  charged  against 
Him,  appear  now  for  the  first  time  to  have  fully  awakened  to  the 
perils  of  their  situation.  All  of  them,  not  excepting  even  John,  forsook 
Him  and  fled  away  among  the  trees  and  rocks  of  the  valley.  It  was  not 
long,  however,  before  John  recovered  his  natural  bravery  of  spirit,  and 
we  find  him  again  by  his  Master's  side.  He  shrank  not  again  from 
any  of  the  terrors  of  that  gloomy  night,  nor  of  the  succeeding  day, 
the  day  of  crucifixion. 

It  is  noticeable  that  John,  who  records  at  such  length  the  sayings 
of  Jesus  at  the  institution  of  the  supper,  makes  no  mention  of  His 
agony  in  the  garden.  The  reason  of  this  doubtless  is  that  he  had 
nothing  to  add  to  the  full  and  graphic  account  given  by  the  other 
evangelists.  "  All  the  bitter  consequences  of  the  fall  were  concentrated 
in  that  agony.  It  was  an  anticipation  of  the  bitterness  of  that  cup 
which  He  was  to  taste  in  His  death  on  the  cross.  The  will  of  God  to 
Him  at  this  crisis  of  His  history  is  that  terrible  death,  at  once  the  full 
manifestation  and  the  full  punishment  of  the  sin  of  mankind.  He  had 
accepted  the  will  of  His  Father  in  all  the  various  circumstances  of  a 
life  in  which  He  has  already  mingled  much  of  sorrow  and  reproach  ; 
by  virtue  of  this  obedience,  He  has  never  ceased  a  single  day  to  carry 
on  His  work  of  redemption,  but  this  moment  brings  Him  face  to  face 
with  surpassing  grief  and  ignominy.  He  has  doubtless  already 
accepted  all  that  awaits  Him  ;  but  the  prospect  more  or  less  remote  of 
sacrifice  is  another  thing  from  the  sacrifice  itself.  Therefore  it  is  that 
He  who  found  His  meat  and  drink  in  doing  the  will  of  God  must  yet 
learn  obedience  in  that  garden  of  agony,  with  strong  crying  and  tears. 
Herein  appears  the  reality  of  His  humanity.  These  words,  the  echo 
of  His  broken  but  submissive  heart,  inaugurated  the  era  of  salvation  for 
man ;  for  in  Christ  they  brought  man  back  definitively  into  the  paths 
of  obedience."  2 

All  the  Galilean  bravery  of  spirit  of  the  disciple  Jesus  loved   had 

1  Matt.  xxvi.  55. 

2  De  Pressense's  Times,  Life,  and  Work  of  Christ,  p.  447. 


PALACE    OP   THE    HIGH-PEIEST.  95 

returned ;  and  he  remained,  as  far  as  circumstances  would  permit,  close 
by  His  side  all  that  dreadful  day,  until  he  saw  His  corpse  removed 
from  the  cross  for  interment  by  the  two  rich  disciples.  It  was  doubt- 
less from  his  example  that  Peter,  who  had  used  the  sword,  and  perhaps 
on  this  account  felt  that  he  was  in  peculiar  peril,  recovered  some 
measure  of  his  natural  courage  and  resoluteness.  He  turned  from  his 
flight,  or  emerged  from  his  hiding-place  in  the  thickets  of  the  valley, 
but  still  followed  Jesus  afar  off.  He  did  not  come  near  His  person  to 
be  recognised  as  one  of  His  followers,  but  kept  on  the  outskirts  of  the 
crowd.  John,  who  was  known  to  the  high-priest,  went  boldly  into 
the  palace  by  the  side  of  Jesus,  and  was  there  one  of  His  acknowledged 
followers,  His  only  visible  friend. 

The  palace,  like  other  oriental  houses  of  the  better  class,  was  built 
around  a  quadrangle  or  court,  into  which  there  was  an  arched  gate- 
way through  the  front  of  the  house,  which  could  be  closed  with  a  mas- 
sive folding  gate,  having  a  smaller  gate,  or  wicket,  for  ordinary  admis- 
sion, attended  by  a  porter  or  portress.  The  interior  court  was  open  to 
the  sky  and  paved  with  stones,  on  which  the  rooms  opened  directly,  or 
upon  galleries  above.  A  fire  had  been  kindled  (for  the  morning  was  cold) 
on  the  pavement  of  the  court.  John  descrying  Peter  at  the  gate,  which 
excluded  the  noisy  rabble,  and  only  too  glad  to  be  joined  by  his  old 
companion,  interceded  successfully  with  the  portress  for  his  admission, 
and  he  sat  down  like  an  unconcerned  spectator  with  the  servants,  and 
warmed  himself  at  the  fire,  to  see  the  end.  Jesus  was  standing  before 
the  high-priest  in  the  audience  room  of  that  functionary,  which  occupied 
one  side  of  the  court,  and  where  He  could  both  see  and  be  seen  by 
those  sitting  around  the  fire.  A  maid-servant  from  one  of  the  over- 
hanging galleries  descries  Peter  "  beneath,"  l  and  recognises  him  as  one 
of  the  followers  and  friends  of  Him  who  stands  accused  before  her 
master.  She  hastens  down,  and,  carefully  scrutinizing  his  countenance 
by  the  flickering  light,  says,  "  Thou  wast  with  Jesus  of  Nazareth." 
He  denied  it  by  the  make-belief  that  he  could  not  understand  her,  or 
did  not  know  what  she  meant.  He  had  been  following  his  Master  afar 
off,  and  was  now  acting  a  part,  playing  unconcerned  spectator,  where 
he  should,  with  John,  have  appeared  as  open  friend ;  and  he  is  afraid  to 
admit  to  a  serving-girl  his  true  relation  to  Jesus.  He  felt  however  ill 
at  ease ;  some  one  else  might  recognise  him  if  he  continued  so  near 
the  blazing  fire.  He  accordingly  retreated  into  the  shadow  of  the 
porch,2  or  covered  passage  way,  which  led  through  the  front  of  the 
building  into  the  court,  and  where  he  thought  he  would  be  safe  from 
the  peering  eyes  of  maid-servants  passing  to  and  fro  through  the 
court  yard  or  along  the  galleries  above.  But  the  damsel  who  was 
1  Mark  xiv.  66.  2  Mark  xiv.  68. 


96  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF   ST.  JOHN. 

stationed  there  to  attend  the  gate  knew  him,  or  suspected  who  or  what 
he  was,  as  it  was  at  the  instance  of  John  she  admitted  him,  or  she  had 
been  informed  by  her  officious  fellow-servant ;  and  she  asked  him  if  he 
was  not  one  of  this  Man's  disciples.  He  promptly  answered  "  I  am 
not."  He  does  not  pretend  that  he  is  ignorant  of  her  meaning,  but 
flatly  denies  his  discipleship.  She  insisted  that  he  was,  and  said  to  the 
persons  standing  near,  or  looking  through  the  bars  from  the  outside, 
"  This  fellow  was  also  with  Jesus  of  Nazareth."  And  the  cock  crew.1 

In  the  meantime  a  preliminary  examination  was  proceeding  before 
Caiaphas,  while  the  Sanhedrin  were  assembling.  Jesus  stood  bound 
before  him,  wearing  the  chain  which  had  been  put  upon  Him  by  the 
command  of  the  old  rabbi,  Annas.  The  high-priest  asked  Him  of  His 
disciples  and  doctrine.  Jesus  replied,  "  I  spake  openly  to  the  world,  I 
ever  taught  in  the  synagogue  and  in  the  temple,  whither  the  Jews 
always  resort ;  and  in  secret  have  I  said  nothing.  Why  askest  thou 
Me  ?  [the  accused  :  Am  I  to  give  testimony  in  My  own  case  ?]  Ask 
them  which  heard  Me,  what  I  have  said  unto  them."  2  At  this  one  of 
the  officers  struck  Jesus  with  the  palm  of  his  hand,  saying,  "  Answerest 
Thou  the  high-priest  so  ?  "  What  a  spectacle  it  must  have  been  to 
John  when  he  saw  the  hand  of  this  rude  official  fall  upon  Jesus  !  How 
difficult  it  must  have  been  for  him  to  restrain  that  resentment  which 
his  nature  held  as  the  steel  holds  fire ! 

Peter,  who  perhaps  would  gladly  have  escaped  through  the  gate,  but 
would  not  venture  after  it  had  been  proclaimed  there  that  he  was  one 
of  the  adherents  of  the  Prisoner,  had  gathered  courage,  as  an  "  hour  " 
had  passed  away,  and  no  new  accuser  had  appeared,  to  return  to  the 
court,  and  was  again  sitting  by  the  fire,  where  he  could  both  see  and 
be  seen  by  his  Master.  Several  who  stood  by  now  renewed  the  charge 
that  he  was  one  of  the  followers  of  Jesus,  and  referred  to  the  pro- 
vincialisms, which  marked  his  expressions  and  pronunciation,  in  proof 
that  he  was  a  Galilean  :  a  sort  of  circumstantial  evidence  that  he  was 
one  of  them.  But  the  proof  became  positive,  and  indeed  overwhelm- 
ing, when  one  of  the  servants  of  the  high-priest,  a  kinsman  of  the 
Malchus  whose  ear  Peter  cut  off,  asked,  "  Did  I  not  see  thee  in  the 
garden  with  Him  ?  "  Evidence  like  this  must  be  met  with  a  stronger 
denial ;  and  to  prevarication  and  falsehood  the  infatuated  man  added 
profane  oaths.  "  And  the  second  time  the  cock  crew." 4  The 
Lord  turned  a  mingled  look  of  sadness  and  rebuke  on  His  disciple.5 
Instantly  Peter  recalled  the  prophecy  respecting  his  denial ;  and  the 
crowing  of  the  cock  was  like  a  trumpet-call  to  his  guilty  soul.  It 

1  Matt.  xxvi.  71 ;  Mark  xiv.  68.  4  Mark  xiv.  71,  72. 

2  John  xviii.  19-24.  5  Luke  xxii.  61. 

3  Luke  xxii.  59. 


BEFORE    THE    SANHEDRIN.  97 

pealed  and  echoed  through  all  its  secret  chambers  and  inmost  recesses. 
It  aroused  his  slumbering  conscience.  The  first  crowing  of  the  cock, 
when  he  was  seeking  to  hide  himself  in  the  shadow  of  the  porch  or 
covered  passage  way,  if  noticed  by  him,  had  no  such  effect.  But  now 
the  alarum  had  sounded.  It  told  him  as  if  the  very  words  had  been 
syllabled  in  this  matin-call  of  the  unconscious  bird,  what  he  had  done  : 
"  Peter,  oh,  Peter,  thou  hast  denied  thy  Lord."  Just  that  thing  had 
happened  which  his  Saviour  foretold,  and  which  he  thought  when  he 
spoke  so  vehemently  never  could  happen.  Lifting  a  trembling  glance 
to  his  Master,  he  caught  a  reproving  look  from  His  loving  eye,  and  all 
the  fountains  of  his  soul  were  broken  up  within  him.  He  rushed  away 
to  seek  some  solitary  place  to  vent  his  overpowering  grief.  John  alone 
of  all  his  fellow  apostles  was  a  witness  of  Peter's  defection,  and  of  this 
sorrowful  scene.  How  painful  it  must  have  been  to  him !  What 
must  he  have  thought  when  he  saw  one  who  had  been  so  prominent, 
with  whom  he  had  been  so  intimately  associated  in  the  most  solemn 
and  tender  scenes,  so  weak  and  so  wicked  ?  He  utters  not  a  word,  but 
looks  on  in  silent  amazement.  It  is  from  him  we  learn  that  it  was 
through  his  intervention  Peter  gained  admission  to  the  palace  of  the 
high-priest.1  But  his  account  of  Peter's  sin  and  humiliation  is  more 
brief  than  that  of  any  of  the  evangelists  ;  while  that  of  Mark,  who  is 
commonly  supposed  to  have  written  under  the  supervision  of  Peter 
himself,  is  more  graphic  and  full  in  its  details  than  any  other. 

The  Sanhedrin,2  in  obedience  to  a  hasty  summons,  had  now  assem- 
bled in  the  audience  chamber  of  the  high-priest.  The  gathering  of 
this  grave  body,  in  the  gray  of  the  morning,  just  as  soon  as  it  was  day,3 
was  a  singular  spectacle.  The  aged  and  severe  Annas,  who  had  sent 
Christ  bound  jbo  Caiaphas,  was  there.  Nicodemus  alone  (and  perhaps 
Joseph  of  Arimathea)  casts  a  friendly  look  on  Him.  All  others 
glared  fiercely  on  Him,  and  sought  for  witnesses  among  the  attending 

1  John  xviii.  15,  16. 

2  Sanhedrin,  awebpiov,  so  called  in  Matt.  v.  22,  Mark  xiv.  55,  Luke  xxii.  66,  John 
xi.  47,  Acts  iv.  15.     It  was  the  supreme  council  of  the  Jewish  nation,  composed  of 
seventy  members  besides  the  high-priest,  in  imitation  of  the  seventy  elders  ap- 
pointed by  Moses,  Num.  xi.  16.    (Jos.  Antiq.  ix.  1  (1).)    The  members  were  selected 
from  former  high-priests,  the  chief  priests,  or  heads  of  the  twenty-four  courses, 
elders,  and  scribes.       The  high-priest  for  the   time   was,  ex-offi.cio,  princeps  or 
president.     This  court  appears  to  have  had  cognizance  of  all  important  causes, 
both  civil  and  ecclesiastical,  and  to  have  met  ordinarily  in  a  hall  near  the  temple, 
called  by  Josephus,  pov\ri,  povXevT-jjpiov.  (Wars,  v.,  4  (2) ;  vi.,  6  (3).)  On  extraordinary 
occasions  they  were  convened    in  the  high-priest's  palace :    Matt.  xxvi.  3,  57. 
Under  the  Komans,  the  right  of  capital  punishment  had  been  taken  away  from 
this  court.     See  Lightfoot,  Hor.  Heb.,  and  John  xviii.  31.     Rob.  Greek  and  Eng. 
Lex. 

3  Luke  xxii.  66. 

H 


98  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF    ST.  JOHN. 

crowd,  to  make  out  some  charge  which  would  be  punishable  \vitli 
death  under  the  Roman  law.  There  was  no  lack  of  false  witnesses ; 
but  because  their  testimony  was  false  it  lacked  the  necessary  agree- 
ment and  consistency.  Christ  stood  in  perfect  silence,  surveying  the 
scene  with  a  placid  dignity  which  might  well  have  awed  His  judges. 
At  length  the  presiding  officer  arose  in  his  place,  and  addressing  Jesus, 
said,  "Answerest  Thou  nothing?  What  is  it  which  these  witness 
against  Thee  ?  "  l  But  Jesus  still  held  His  peace.  With  mingled 
solemnity  and  fierceness  the  high-priest  cried  out,  "I  adjure  Thee,  by 
the  living  God,  that  Thou  tell  us  whether  Thou  be  the  Christ,  the  Sou 
of  God."  2  Then  was  heard  that  calm,  majestic  voice  :  "  I  AM  ;  and 
hereafter  shall  ye  see  the  Son  of  man  sitting  on  the  right  hand  of 
power,  and  coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven."  At  these  words  the 
high-priest  rent  his  garments,  and  pronounced  Him  guilty  of  blasphemy. 
"  What  further  need  have  we  of  witnesses  ?  "  he  said.  He  immedi- 
ately put  the  question  to  the  Sanhedrin,  and  they  pronounced  Him 
"  guilty  of  death."  Then  some  spat  in  His  face,  and  buffeted  Him  ; 
others  blindfolded  Him,  and,  striking  Him  in  the  face,  bade  Him  in 
mockery  tell  which  of  them  it  was  that  smote  Him.  John  heard  and 
saw  all  this.  With  his  intense  affection  for  the  Saviour,  it  must  have 
been  an  occasion  of  the  deepest  suffering  to  him.  There  can  be  little 
doubt  he  would  have  preferred  to  receive  the  blows,  and  would  have 
welcomed  all  the  indignity  heaped  upon  his  Master.  It  was  an  occa- 
sion, moreover,  of  severe  discipline  to  his  indignant  spirit.  It  must 
have  cost  him  no  small  effort  to  quell  that  anger  which,  as  we  have 
seen,  was  so  quick  to  rise  at  any  slight  or  disrespect  to  One  whom  he 
knew  to  be  so  spotless  and  pure. 

The  Jewish  council  had  reached  their  decision,  had.  finished  their 
session.  '  Their  next  step,  as  they  could  not  under  the  Roman  law  put 
any  man  to  death,  was  to  carry  Him  before  the  Roman  governor,  and 
insist  on  His  being  capitally  punished.  The  guard  were  accordingly 
directed  to  lead  Him  to  Pilate's  3  judgment  hall.  They  themselves 
followed,  but  would  only  approach  the  entrance.  With  their  hearts 

1  Mark  xiv.  60-64. 

-  Matt.  xxvi.  63. 

3  The  name  of  Pilate  appears  in  the  Annals  of  Tacitus,  and  the  testimony  of 
this  historian  as  to  the  time  when  the  foundations  of  the  Christian  religion  were 
laid  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  that  of  the  evangelists.  In  stating  that  Nero  him- 
self was  believed  to  have  ordered  the  conflagration  of  Home,  and  in  order  to  sup- 
press the  rumour,  charged  the  persons  commonly  called  Christians  with  the  crime, 
he  adds :  "  Auctor  nominis  ejus  Christus,  Tiberio  imperitante,  per  Procuratorem 
Pontium  Pilatum  supplicio  affectus  est  :  "  i.e.,  Christ,  the  founder  of  that  name 
(sect),  was  capitally  punished  by  Pontius  Pilate,  Procurator  (of  Judaea),  in  the 
reign  of  Tiberius.  Annal.,  xv.  44. 


JESUS    BEFORE    PILATE.  99 

filled  with  hatred  ana  murder,  they  refused  to  enter  that  hall  lest  they 
should  incur  ceremonial  defilement,  and  be  disqualified  for  observing 
some  of  the  remaining  rites  of  the  passover.  Pilate,  in  condescending 
to  come  out  and  confer  with  them,  betrays  his  anxiety  to  conciliate 
their  good  esteem.  On  some  account  he  seems  to  have  felt  the  inse- 
curity of  his  position  in  the  government  of  the  province,  and  imagined 
that  he  might  strengthen  it  by  making  himself  popular  with  the  heads 
of  the  people  over  whom  he  ruled.  At  the  same  time,  he  evinces 
throughout  the  trial  a  strong  desire  to  evade  the  responsibility  they 
sought  to  lay  upon  him.  He  wishes  them  to  take  Jesus  and  judge  Him 
according  to  the  Jewish  law ;  but  this  they  would  not  agree  to,  as  it- 
would  defeat  their  object,  inasmuch  as  their  conquerors,  the  Romans, 
did  not  permit  them  to  put  any  man  to  death.1  His  death'  they  had 
determined  upon,  and  no  punishment  short  of  it  would  satisfy  them. 
They  pleaded  that  the  charge  which  they  preferred  was  one  of  which 
not  the  Jewish,  but  only  the  Roman  tribunal,  could  take  cognizance. 
They  began  only  the  more  earnestly  to  accuse  Him,  saying,  "  We  found 
this  fellow  perverting  the  nation  (that  is,  attempting  to- break  its 
allegiance  to  Rome),  and  forbidding  to  give  tribute  to  Cassar,  saying 
that  He  Himself  is  Christ,  a  king."  The  accusation  was  artfully 
framed  as  far  as  it  related  to  His  claim  to  be  Messiah,  as  involving  the 
claim  to  be  a  king ;  but  so  far  as  it  related  to  the  paying  of  the  tribute 
it  was  wholly  false,  for  they  had  utterly  failed  2  when  they  sought  to 
ensnare  Him  into  saying  something,  on  this  subject  which  might  be 
interpreted  as  of  a  hostile  bearing  to  the  Roman  government.  Pilate 
could  discover  no  way  by  which  to  evade  the  responsibility  of  proceed- 
ing with  the  trial,  without  appearing  indifferent  to  the  safety  and  rights 
of  the  imperial  government,  which  he  could  at  that  time  by  no  means 
afford  to  do. 

He  therefore  returned  3  to  his  judgment  seat,  and  formally  arraigned 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  at  his  bar.  He  asked  Him,  "  Art  Thou  the  King 
of  the  Jews  ?  "  The  Lord  at  once  admitted  that  He  claimed  to  be  a 
king,  but  in  no  such  sense  as  to  make  Him  liable  to  the  charge  of  treason. 
"  I  am  a  king,  but  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world.  I  have  no  armies 
to  fight  for  its  establishment,  nor  to  defend  Me  against  arrest  or  insult." 
The  accusation  that  this  meek,  mild  Prisoner,  without  armed  followers, 
had  any  treasonable  designs  against  the  Roman  government  was  evi- 

1  The  account  found  in  the  gospel  touching  the  civil  condition  of  the  Jews  at 
this  time  corresponds  in  a  striking  manner  with  other  authorities.     Lardner  has 
discussed  the  subject  with  an  exhaustive  learning,  and  has  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  Jews  did  not  possess  the  power  of  life  and  death,  which  was  in  the  hands 
of  the  Eoman  governor.     Vol.  i.,  pp.  83-164. 

2  Matt.  xxii.  15-22. 

3  Matt,  xxvii.  11 ;  Mark  xv.  2  ;  Luke  xxiii.  3  ;  John  xviii.  33. 


100  THE    LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

dently,  in  the  opinion  of  Pilate,  simply  absurd.  He  therefore  left  the 
judgment  seat  the  second  time,  and  went  out  and  said  to  His  accusers, 
"  I  find  in  Him  no  fault  at  all."  1  Then  the  chief  priests  and  elders 
accused  Him  of  many  things.  They  felt  that  their  cause  was  becoming 
desperate,  and  they  hoped  that  in  the  multiplicity  of  their  charges  one 
might  be  found  that  would  stir  up  the  animosity  and  cruel  nature  of 
Pilate  against  the  Prisoner,  and  result  in  His  condemnation.  While 
this  was  going  on,  Jesus  stood  in  calm  and  silent  dignity,  and  was 
so  unmoved  that  the  astonishment  of  His  judge  was  excited.2  "  An- 
swerest  Thou  nothing?"  he  says.  And  He  answered  him  never  a  word. 
Why  should  He  attempt  to  answer  such  unscrupulous  accusers  ?  But 
Pilate  did  not  interpret  His  declining  to  answer  as  a  disrespect.  It  was 
a  sacred  privilege,  which,  under  the  circumstances,  He  had  a  perfect 
right  to  exercise,  and  which  His  judge  therefore  respected. 

Again  Pilate  addressed  the  chief  priests  and  people  :  "  I  find  no 
fault  in  this  Man.  "  3  But  this  only  excited  them  the  more  ;  and  they 
cried  out,  "  He  stirreth  up  the  people,  teaching  throughout  all  Jewry, 
beginning  from  Galilee  to  this  place."  He  was  an  agitator,  if  not  a 
traitor.  The  mention  of  Galilee  as  the  region  where  Jesus  commenced 
this  work  of  agitation  suggested  to  the  perplexed  governor  a  mode  in 
which  he  might  escape  from  his  dilemma.  He  immediately  inquired  if 
the  man  were  a  Galilean  ;  and  being  answered  in  the  affirmative,  sent 
Him  to  Herod,  the  governor  of  Galilee,  who  was  on  a  visit  to  Jeru- 
salem at  that  time.4  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  disciple  who 
accompanied  the  Lord  to  the  palace  of  the  high-priest,  where  he  was  so 
well  known  to  that  functionary  and  his  retainers,  stood  with  the  same 
firmness  by  His  side,  both  before  Pilate  and  Herod.  And  he  alone  of 
all  the  apostles  probably  was  present.  In  being  the  witness  of  these 
scenes,  how  important  the  lessons  he  must  have  learned,  fitting  him  for 
his  future  work,  not  merely  as  the  inspired  narrator  of  the  Lord's 
history,  but  for  that  long  service  in  doing  the  Lord's  work,  during  a 
considerable  portion  of  which  he  was  the  sole  survivor  of  his  apostolic 
companions. 

The  soldiers  led  Jesus  forth  to  the  quarters  of  Herod.5  This  was 
Herod  Antipas,  the  same  cruel  ruler  who  had  caused  the  head  of  John 

1  John  xviii.  38. 

2  Matt,  xxvii.  12-14. 

3  Luke  xxiii.  4,  5. 

4  Luke  xxiii.  6-12. 

5  The  share  Herod  took  in  the  trial  of  Jesus  is  referred  to  in  Acts  iv.  27.     The 
feud  between  him  and  Pilate  may  have  had  some  connection  with  the  slaughter  of 
the  Galileans  mentioned  in  Luke  xiii.  1,  &v  TO  al/ma  ILXdros  ^tu£e  yuerd  rCjv  OVGLUV 
O.VTUV.     Herod  was  unscrupulous  and  cruel.     With  his  cruelty  there  seems  to  have 
been  united  a  peculiar  cunning,  justifying  the  title, 'H  dXwTTT^  atirrj  (Luke  xiii.  32). 


PROGRESS    OF    THE    TRIAL.  101 

the  Baptist  to  be  brought  on  a  platter  in  the  midst  of  a  gay  revel,  at 
the  request  of  a  girl,  the  daughter  of  his  paramour,  whose  dancing  had 
pleased  him.  This  wicked  man  was  exceedingly  glad  to  see  Jesus,  and 
had  desired,  we  are  told,  for  a  long  time  to  see  Him,  for  the  singular 
reason  that  he  had  heard  many  remarkable  things  respecting  Him,  and  he 
hoped  to  see  some  wonderful  work  performed  by  Him.  He  immediately 
began  to  question,  and  appears  to  have  insisted  on  obtaining  an 
answer ;  but  we  are  expressly  told  thab  our  Lord  answered  nothing. 
He  did  not  once  open  His  lips.  Herod  was  not  permitted  to  hear  the 
sound  of  that  gracious  voice  which  had  fallen,  in  the  sweetest  accents, 
on  the  ears  of  the  humblest  of  the  people.  The  chief  priests  and 
scribes,  who  had  followed  to  be  present  at  this  tribunal,  stood  and 
vehemently  accused  Him ;  but  their  charges  were  of  the  same  ground- 
less, absurd,  or  indefinite  nature  which  distinguished  them  before 
Pilate.  No  answer  that  He  could  give  would  silence  them,  or  satisfy 
a  judge  whose  principal  wish  was  to  gratify  a  morbid  desire  for  sight- 
seeing. The  result  of  His  arraignment  before  Herod  was  that  Herod 
with  his  men  of  war  set  Him  at  naught,  mocked  Him,  arrayed  Him  in 
a  gorgeous  robe,  and  sent  Him  again  to  Pilate.  Another  singular 
result  is  stated;  to  wit,  that  Herod  and  Pilate,  who  before  were 
enemies,  were  made  friends  on  the  same  day.  That  which  undoubtedly 
was  a  mere  expedient  on  the  part  of  Pilate  to  get  clear  of  an  embarrass- 
ing case  was  probably  interpreted  by  Herod  as  an  act  of  concession, 
or  of  deference  and  respect ;  and  thus  the  Lord  of  glory,  in  passing 
from  one  to  the  other  of  these  wicked  men,  restored  them  to  friendship. 
Christ  stands  again  in  the  presence  of  Pilate,  and  as  He  was  accused 
of  practices  unfriendly  to  the  Roman  government,  His  case  must  be 
disposed  of  in  a  manner  which  would  not  give  His  enemies  an  oppor- 
tunity of  accusing  him  of  malfeasance  in  office  to  the  emperor.  What 
was  his  next  step  ?  He  first  distinctly  declares  to  the  accusers  of 
Christ  that  neither  he  nor  Herod  had  been  able  to  discover  the  least 
evidence  of  guilt l  on  the  charge  they  had  brought  against  Him  of  seek- 
ing to  lead  the  Jewish  people  into  revolt ;  but  as  they  had  a  custom 
that  he  should,  at  the  feast  of  the  passover,  release  unto  the  people  one 
prisoner,  whomsoever  they  desired,  he  would  release  the  King  of  the 
Jews.  He  put  the  question  whether  he  should  do  this.  There  was 
then  on  trial,  or  awaiting  his  trial,  a  notable  criminal,  one  Barabbas,  a 
robber,  who  had  been  engaged  in  an  insurrection,  in  which  murder 
was  committed.  Pilate  therefore  referred  it  to  the  crowd  gathered 
around  his  judgment  seat,  to  say  whether  he  should  release  Barabbas 
unto  them  or  Jesus  Christ.  Whilst  the  multitude  are  preparing  to 
give  their  decision,  and  the  chief  priests  and  elders  are  engaged  in 
1  Luke  xxiii. ;  comp.  Matt,  xxvii.  15-26  ;  Mark  xv.  6-15. 


102 


TflE    LIFE    AND    WRITINGS   OF    ST.  JOHN. 


persuading  them  to  ask  Barabbas,  woman,  in  the  person  of  Pilate's 
wife,  like  a  good  angel,  appears  on  the  scene,  to  plead  in  favour  of 
Jesus.1  She  sent  to  her  husband  on  the  judgment  seat,  saying,  "  Have 
thou  nothing  to  do  with  that  just  Man,  for  I  have  suffered  many  things 
this  day  in  a  dream  concerning  Him."  But  in  vain  ;  the  man  who  will 
not  heed  the  monitions  of  his  own  conscience  will  disregard  the  warn- 
ings and  forebodings  of  an  anxious  wife. 

At  length  the  question  was  put  to  the  people  by  the  governor, 
Whether  of  the  twain  will  ye  that  I  release  unto  you  ?  2  Prepared  as 
they  had  been,  by  their  rulers,  they  promptly,  evidently  to  the  dis- 
appointment of  Pilate,  answered,  "Barabbas."  He  had  hoped  that 
the  answer  would  have  been  "  Jesus,"  or,  at  least,  that  there  would 
have  been  dissensions  among  them.  But  what,  he  says,  shall  I  do 
unto  Him  whom  ye  call  the  King  of  the  Jews  ?3  Immediately  they 
cried  out,  Crucify  Him.  Again  he  said,  "  Why,  what  evil  hath  He  done  ? 
I  have  found  no  cause  of  death  in  Him."  How  can  you  ask  me  to  give 
sentence  of  death  against  Him ;  "I  will  therefore  chastise4  Him,  and  let 
Him  go.  And  they  were  instant  with  loud  voices,  requiring  that  He 
might  be  crucified.  And  the  voices  of  them  and  the  chief  priests 
prevailed." 

Pilate  had  yielded  point  after  point  to  the  demands  of  the  accusers ; 
had  shown  that  he  had  no  sincere  regard  for  the  principles  of  justice ; 
and  now  yields  all.  He  resorts  to  the  vain  ceremony  of  washing  his 
hands  before  the  multitude,  saying,  "  I  am  innocent  of  the  blood  of  this 
just  Person ; "  5  which  called  forth  that  fearful  exclamation  of  the  people, 
"  His  blood  be  on  us,  and  our  children  !  " 

Then  Pilate  took  Jesus  and  scourged  Him,  and  having  committed 
Him  to  the  custody  of  the  soldiers,  they  took  Him  into  the  praetorium, 
or  common  hall6  of  the  palace,  and  called  together  the  whole  cohort 

1  Matt,  xxvii.  19.    A  partial  knowledge  of  Eoman  history  might  lead  the  reader 
to  question  the  historic  credibility  of  Matthew  in  this  particular.     In  the  earlier 
periods,  and  indeed  as  long  as  the  commonwealth  subsisted,  it  was  very  unusual 
for  the  governors  of  provinces  to  take  their  wives  with  them  (Senec.  De  Controv., 
25) ;  and  in  the  strict  regulation,  which  Augustus  introduced,  he  did  not  allow  the 
favour  except  in  peculiar  and  specified  circumstances  (Sueton.,  Aug.,  24).     The 
practice,  however,   grew  to  be  more  and  more  prevalent,  and  was  (says  Winer, 
Real-wort,  in  "  Pilate  ")  customary  in  Pilate's  time.   In  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of 
Tiberius,  Germanicus  took  his  wife  with  him  into  the  East.     Piso,  the  prefect  of 
Syria,  took  his  wife  also  along  with  him  at  the  same  time.    Tacit.  Annal.,  ii.,  54,  55. 
See  Lardner's  Works,  vol.  i.,  p.  145 ;  Kitto's  Cyclop.,  Pilate. 

2  Matt,  xxvii.  21,  22. 

3  Mark  xv.  12. 

4  Luke  xxiii.  22. 

5  Matt,  xxvii.  24,  25. 
e  Matt,  xxvii.  26-30. 


ST.  JOHN    PRESENT.  103 

or  garrison  that  they  might  make  sport  of  the  Condemned.  They  took 
off  His  garment  and  put  on  Him  a  purple  robe ;  they  plaited  a  crown 
of  thorns  and  put  it  on  His  head  ;  and  for  a  sceptre  placed  a  reed  in 
His  hand.  They  then  bowed  the  knee  to  Him  and  said,  "  Hail,  King  of 
the  Jews  ! "  Having  wearied  themselves  with  this  rude  sport  and 
mockery,  they  next  gratified  the  brutality  of  their  nature,  they  took 
the  mock  sceptre  from  His  hand,  and  smote  Him  on  the  head,  and 
spat  upon  Him. 

But  Pilate,  although  he  .had  given  sentence,  appears  to  have  relented. 
Perhaps  whilst  the  scene  which  has  been  described  was  going  on  in 
the  praetorium,  his  wife  had  again  remonstrated.  At  all  events  he 
again  seeks  to  release  Jesus.  He  goes  forth  to  the  chief  priests  and 
rulers,  and  caused  the  Condemned  to  be  led  out,  His  limbs  lacerated 
and  bleeding  from  the  cruel  scourge,  still  wearing  the  crown  of  thorns 
and  the  purple  robe,1  and  said  to  them,  BEHOLD  THE  MAN  !  "  Those 
words,  that  scene,  have  become  immortal.  Painters  have  dipped  their 
pencil  in  that  purple  robe,  and  sought  for  ages  to  depict  that  expression 
of  suffering  majesty.  The  Church  of  Christ  caught  up  the  motto  and 
the  image,  and  pressed  them  to  her  bosom."  2  Pilate  doubtless  hoped 
that  some  pity  would  be  excited  in  the  bosom  of  the  beholders,  and 
that  they  would  yet  consent  that  he  should  release  Him.  But  no,  they 
cried  out,  Crucify,  crucify  Him ;  if  the  Roman  law  does  not  condemn 
Him,  by  our  law  He  ought  to  die,  because  He  made  Himself  the  Son 
of  God.  These  words  only  increased  the  terror  of  Pilate.  He  accom- 
panied Christ  back  into  the  judgment  hall,  and  earnestly  inquired, 
Whence  art  Thou?  But  he  received  no  answer.  Pilate  then  said, 
Speakest  Thou  not  to  me  ?  Knowest  Thou  not  that  I  have  power  to 
crucify  Thee,  and  have  power  to  release  Thee  ?  "  Thou  couldst  have  no 
power  at  all  against  Me  except  it  were  given  thee  from  above,"  was  the 
calm  reply.  Again  Pilate  presented  Jesus  to  the  Jews,  and  said, 
Behold  your  King.  But  they  cried,  Away  with  Him,  away  with  Him  ; 
crucify  Him. 

For  three  or  four  weary  hours  this  trial  had  been  going  on,  and  now 
it  was  concluded ;  and  Pilate  delivered  Him  unto  them  to  be  crucified. 

We  cannot  doubt  that  that  disciple  who  accompanied  the  Lord  to 
the  palace  of  the  high-priest  was  near  Him,  perhaps  walked  by  His 
side,  on  His  way  from  Pilate  to  Herod,  and  from  Herod  back  to  Pilate, 
and  on  His  way  to  Golgotha ;  and  would  gladly,  if  he  had  been 

1  Probably  a  scarlet  (Matt,  xxvii.  28)  military  cloak,  belonging  to  one  of  them- 
selves, which  was  intended  to  represent  the  imperial  purple.     Hence  Mark  and 
John  describe  it  for  what  it  was  intended  to  be — a  purple,  iropfapa.v,  robe  (Mark 
xv.  17;  John  xix.  2). 

2  Homer's  Sermons,  edited  by  Dr.  Edwards  A.  Park. 


104  THE    LIFE    AND    WETTINGS    OP    ST.  JOHN. 

permitted,  have  borne  that  cumbrous  cross  which  crushed  the  Saviour 
to  the  earth.  He  stood  near  the  cross,  after  Jesus  was  fastened  upon 
it, — the  only  representative  of  the  apostles  on  that  scene  of  blood,  unless 
perhaps  the  shamed  and  sorrowing  Peter  was  somewhere  there,  on  the 
outskirts  of  the  crowd,  his  heart  powerfully  attracted  by  love  towards 
that  Saviour  whom  he  had  denied. 

Taking  our  station,  with  the  beloved  disciple,  as  near  as  possible  to 
the  person  of  the  suffering  Saviour,  we  join  the  procession  as  it  takes 
its  departure  from  the  palace  of  the  high-priest.  Jesus  no  longer  wears 
the  purple  robe  in  which  He  had  been  mocked.  The  cross  to  which  He 
was  to  be  nailed  had  been  prepared.  It  was  probably  a  tree,  with  limbs 
of  a  proper  size  and  shape  to  adapt  it  to  the  purpose.  Peter  styles  it  a 
tree,1  and  it  repeatedly  receives  the  same  designation  from  the  his- 
torian Luke.2  It  is  laid  on  the  Condemned,  and  the  procession  starts 
for  the  place  of  execution.  Suddenly  its  progress  is  arrested.  The 
Saviour  sinks  beneath  the  burden  that  has  been  laid  on  Him.  No 
severity  of  the  soldiers  can  cause  Him  to  rise  beneath  it.  It  is  not 
obstinacy,  it  is  exhaustion.  One  Simon,  a  Jew,  from  Gyrene,  who  is 
met  in  the  way,  is  compelled  to  take  the  cross  and  bear  it  after  Him.  3 

As  they  move  on,  a  voice  of  lamentation  and  wailing  is  heard  from 
the  great  company  of  people  that  followed.4  It  proceeds  from  the 
women,  to  whom  the  Saviour  turned,  and  said,  "  Weep  not  for  Me,  but 
weep  for  yourselves  and  your  children  "  ;  and  then  uttered  a  prediction 
of  the  calamities  that  were  coming  on  the  nation. 

To  add  to  the  ignominy  of  His  crucifixion,  two  others,  malefactors, 
were  led  with  Him  to  be  put  to  death.  5  Arrived  at  the  place  known 
as  the  Skull,6  or  in  Hebrew,  Golgotha,  as  the  Sufferer  probably  still 

1  1  Pet.  ii.  24. 

2  Acts  v.  30;  x.  39;  xiii.  29. 

3  Jesus  seems  to  have  borne  the  cross  as  far  as  the  city  gate.     It  was  as  they 
were  coming  out  (e&pxbuevoi,  Matt,  xxvii.  32)   that  they  met  Simon  the  Cyrenian 
coming  in  from  the  country  (epxo^fvov  air  ay  pod,  Mark  xv.  21).     The  scene  of  the 
crucifixion  was  beyond  the  northern,  now  known  as  the  Damascus  gate.      Mark 
says  of  this  Simon  that  he  was  "  the  father  of  Alexander  and  Kufus,"  an  expression 
which  seems  to  imply  that  they  were  well-known  persons  in  the  Church  at  the  time 
Mark  was  writing.     Perhaps  Kufus  is  the  one  whom  Paul  greets,  Eom.  xvi.  13. 
But  the  attempt  to  identify  them  is  altogether  conjectural. 

4  Luke  xxiii.  27-32.     "  Viri  muliebres  animos  ostenderant  in  fuga  et  desertione 
Christi.    Infirmus  sexus  hie  praevalet  fortiori.     Tantum  valet  amor  Christi  et  robur 
spiritus  etiam  in  vasis  imbecillioribus.'* — Lampe  in  Evang.  Joan.,  cap.  xix.,  26. 

5  See  the  four  evangelists. 

6  Kpaviov,  the  skull,   Luke  xxiii.    33.     In   Matthew,    Mark,    and    John,    it  is 
called  Kpaviov  T6iro$,  skull  place.     Cyril  of    Jerusalem,  Keland,  Paulus,  Llicke,  De 
Wette,  Meyer,  and  others,  understand  the  name  as  descriptive  of  the  shape  of  the 
hill  of  crucifixion.     See  a  very  interesting  monograph  on  this  subject  by  the  late 
lamented  Fisher  Howe,  Esq.,  of  Brooklyn,  N.Y. 


THE    CRUCIFIXION. 


105 


exhibited  signs  of  syncope,  they  offered  Him  wine  mingled  with  myrrh; 
or  it  may  have  been  a  mixture  intended  to  stupefy  the  mind  and 
deaden  the  sense  of  pain  ;  but  when  He  tasted  He  refused  to  drink.1 

It  was  the  third  hour,  corresponding  to  our  nine  o'clock  in  the 
morning ;  and  they  crucified  Him.  He  was  nailed  to  the  tree  by  His 
hands  and  feet,  and  with  Him  they  crucify  the  two  thieves,  and  plant 
the  crosses  the  one  on  His  right  and  the  other  on  His  left  hand.  Then 
was  heard  that  prayer  of  boundless  love,  "  Father,  forgive  them  ;  they 
know  not  what  they  do."  This  was  the  first  of  those  weighty  utterances 
which  John  heard  dropped  from  the  lips  of  Jesus,  as  He  hung  upon  the 
cross.2  How  impressively  he  must  have  been  taught  that  there  is 
forgiveness  with  God  for  those  who  have  despised  and  rejected  Christ 
through  ignorance  !  He  was  to  preach  the  gospel  to  many  such.  He 
was  to  preach  the  gospel  to  those  who  took  part  in  the  crucifixion  of 
Christ,  and  would  have  occasion  to  say,  "  And  now,  brethren,  I  wot  that 
through  ignorance  ye  did  it." 3  He  fully  believed  God  to  be  a  for- 
giving God,  as  is  evidenced  by  all  his  writings ;  and  he  found  in  it  the 
grandest  of  all  motives  to  the  forgiveness  of  enemies.  It  was  this 
which  qualified  him  in  so  eminent  a  degree  for  his  work  as  a  preacher  of 
the  gospel. 

The  next  scene  in  the  crucifixion,  presented  to  the  eye  of  John,  was 
the  act  of  the  four  soldiers  who  officiated  as  executioners,  in  dividing 
the  garments  of  Jesus,  and  casting  lots  for  His  seamless  robe.  It  is  a 
matter  of  business  with  them  ;  they  must  not  miss  the  perquisites  of 
their  trade !  They  have  one  more  service  to  perform  before  they  sit 
down  to  watch  the  slow  and  steady  advance  of  death,  and  make  sure 


1  Matt,  xxvii.  34. 

2  The  form  of  the  cross  varied.     Sometimes  it  was  in  the  shape  of  the  letter  X- 
This  was  called  St.  Andrew's,  or  crux  decussata.  Sometimes  in  the  shape  of  the  letter 
~T5  called  St.  Anthony's  cross,  or  crux  commissa.    And  sometimes  in  the  following 
form  -|-,  the  Latin  cross,  or  crux  immissa.    It  was  on  a  cross  of  the  latter  kind  our 
Lord  is  supposed  to  have  suffered.     There  is  a  beautiful  tradition  which  assigns 
the  perpetual  shiver  of  the  aspen  to  the  fact  of  the  cross  having  been  of  this  tree. 
But  Lipsius,  who  has  displayed  such  wealth  of  erudition  on  this   subject,  thinks 
(De  Cruce,  iii.,  13)  that  it  was  of  oak,  which  was  common  in  Judasa.  There  is  another 
tradition,  that  the  cross  consisted  of  three  kinds  of  wood :  cypress,  pine,  and  cedar. 
And  still  another  that  it  consisted  of  four  kinds  :  cedar,  cypress,  palm,  and  olive. 
That  it  was  wood  is  certain,  but  of  what  wood  no  evidence  remains.    "  The  principal 
standard,"  says  Gibbon,  writing  of  the  reign  of  Constantino,  "which  displayed  the 
triumph  of  the  cross,  was  styled  the  labarum,  an  obscure  though  celebrated  name, 
which  has  been  vainly  derived  from  almost  all  the  languages  of  the  world.    It  is 
described  as  a  long  pike  intersected  by  a  transversal  beam.     The  silken  veil  which 
hung  down  from  the  beam  was  curiously  inwrought  with  the  images  of  the  reigning 
monarch  and  family  "  (Decline  and  Fall,  chap.  xx.). 

3  Acts  iii.  17. 


106  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF   ST.  JOHN. 

that  they  have  accomplished  their  work.  Pilate  had  written  a  title1 
to  be  put  up  over  the  head  of  Jesus  on  the  cross.  It  was  in  the  three 
great  languages  of  the  world,  Greek,  Latin,  and  Hebrew,  and  was  in 
these  words,  JESUS  OF  NAZARETH,  THE  KING  OF  THE  JEWS.  There  was 
something  significant  in  its  being  in  these  three  languages,  as  well  as  in 
the  title  itself.  It  contained  a  message  for  the  whole  world,  not 
only  the  Jewish,  but  the  Gentile  —  not  only  the  learned,  but  the  un- 
learned. Pilate,  although  he  meant  it  not  so  in  his  heart,  but  doubtless 
imagined  that  some  apology  for-  his  unjust  sentence  might  be  found  in 
the  inscription  he  ordered  to  be  placed  on  the  cross,  proclaimed  a  great 
truth,  that  Jesus  was  a  King,  and  not  the  King  of  the  Jews  only,  but 
the  King  of  nations,  the  King  of  kings.  It  was  one  more  attempt  to 
quiet  a  troubled  conscience  ;  and  he  could  not  be  persuaded  by  the 
solicitations  of  the  chief  priests  to  remove  or  to  change  it.  Thus 
Divine  providence  seems  to  have  overruled  the  mind  and  heart  of  Pilate 
to  proclaim  the  kingship  of  Christ  at  the  very  moment  when  shame  and 
reproach  were  heaped  on  Him. 

And  now  commenced  before  the  eyes  of  the  loving  disciple  a  scene 
of  cruel  mockery.2  The  rabble,  as  they  passed  by  the  cross,  wagged 
their  heads,  and  pointed  the  finger  at  Him,  crying  out,  "Ah,  Thou  that 
destroyest  the  temple,  and  buildest  it  in  three  days,  save  Thyself.  If 
Thou  be  the  Son  of  God,  come  down  from  the  cross."  And  with  them 
the  chief  priests  and  scribes  and  elders  joined  and  said,  "  He  saved 
others,  Himself  he  cannot  save.  Let  Christ  the  King  of  Israel  descend 
now  from  the  cross,  that  we  may  see  and  believe."  And  even  the  voices 
of  the  thieves,  hanging  in  tortures  by  His  side,  were  heard  reviling  Him, 
"If  Thou  be  Christ,  save  Thyself  and  us,"  But  lo  !  a  scene  of  wondrous 
grace.  Something,  (perhaps  it  was  the  prayer,  "  Father,  forgive  them,  for 
they  know  not  what  they  do,")  touched  the  heart  of  one  of  them,  it  being 
a  prayer  for  the  forgiveness  of  those  who  were  engaged  at  that  moment 
in  crucifying  Jesus  ;  and  he  bethought  himself,  If  these  can  be  forgiven, 
why  not  I  ?  And  he  began  to  pray  in  earnest,  "Lord,  remember  me  when 
Thou  comest  into  Thy  kingdom."  The  grace  that  put  this  prayer  into  his 
lips  seems  singularly  to  have  enlightened  him,  not  only  in  respect  to  the 
power  and  glory  of  Christ,  but  in  respect  to  His  kingdom.  Through 


1  Amcc,  Matt,  xxvii.  37  ;  TJ  einypa^r]  TTJS  cuYi'as,  Mark  XY.  26  ;  tiriypa.^,  Luke 
xxiii.  38  ;  rtrXos,  John  xix.  19. 

After  the  celebrated  vision  of  Constantine  of  a  flaming  cross  in  the  heavens  with 
the  inscription,  In  hoc  signo  vince,  or  vinces,  he  ordered  a  cross  of  gold  and  gems  to 
be  made,  and  his  new  standard,  the  labarum,  besides  the  pendent  cross,  sup- 
ported the  celebrated  monogram  of  Christ,  which  was  also  on  the  shields  and  hel- 
mets of  the  legion.  The  labarum  is  represented  on  the  coins  of  Constantine  the 
Great  and  his  immediate  successors. 

-  Matt,  xxvii.  39-44  :  Luke  xxiii.  35-57. 


MOTHER    OF   JESUS   AND    ST.  JOHN.  107 

all  the  ignominy  of  the  passing  hour,  he  saw  the  Saviour  amidst  the 
glories  of  His  heavenly  reign.  It  is  possible  this  man  had  heard  the 
gospel  from  the  Saviour's  lips,  for  He  had  visited  all  portions  of  Judsea 
and  Galilee  and  Samaria,  and  had  preached  to  all  classes  of  the  people. 
It  was  a  most  surprising  act  of  faith.  He  believed  in  Christ  while  he 
was  on  the  cross,  without  support,  utterly  destitute  of  any  sign  of 
power,  and  undergoing  a  most  ignominious  death.  "This  day  shalt 
thou  be  with  Me  in  paradise,"  was  the  gracious  answer  to  his  prayer. 
The  depth  of  his  repentance  was  attested  as  clearly  as  the  strength  of 
his  faith,  when  he  rebuked  his  companion  in  guilt  and  suffering,  in  the 
words,  "  Dost  thou  not  fear  God,  seeing  thou  art  in  the  same  condemna- 
tion ?  And  we  indeed  justly ;  for  we  receive  the  due  reward  of  our  deeds, 
but  this  Man  hath  done  nothing  amiss."  Of  course,  the  deeper  his  sense 
that  his  punishment  was  justly  deserved,  the  more  deeply  would  he  be 
affected  by  the  sufferings  of  the  Holy  One  at  his  side. 

The  beloved  disciple  was  a  deeply  interested,  spectator  of  this  scene. 
Amid  the  confused  outcries,  one  voice  was  heard  calling  his  Master  Lord, 
and  beseeching  for  a  share  in  the  glories  of  His  kingdom.  It  was  a  new 
revelation  to  John  of  the  power  and  grace  of  the  Saviour.  He  could 
never  forget  it,  nor  cease  to  feel  its  influence,  as  an  apostle  and  minister 
of  Christ.  He  remembered  it  in  old  age,  when,  according  to  a  well 
known  and  well  founded  tradition1  he  pursued  the  young  robber  into 
the  very  lurking  places  of  the  banditti  of  which  he  was  the  captain,  and 
besought  him,  not  without  effect,  to  renounce  his  wicked  ways,  and 
repent. 

We  next  see  the  beloved  disciple  himself  brought  forward  in  a  most 
conspicuous  and  interesting  manner  in  the  scene  of  the  crucifixion. 
We  have  the  account  from  his  own  pen:  "Now  there  stood  by  the 
cross  of  Jesus  His  mother,  and  His  mother's  sister,  Mary  the  wife  of 
Cleophas,  and  Mary  Magdalene.  When  Jesus  therefore  saw  His 
mother,  and  the  disciple  standing  by,  whom  He  loved,  He  saith  unto  His 
mother,  Woman,  behold  thy  son  !  Then  saith  He  to  the  disciple,  Behold 
thy  mother !  And  from  that  hour  that  disciple  took  her  unto  his  own 
home." '  His  mother  was  standing  there  in  anguish.  Good  old 
Simeon's  prophecy  was  now  fulfilled;  the  sword  was  piercing  her 
soul.s  He  first  turns  to  her,  and  commits  her  to  the  filial  care  of 
John;  He  then  turns  to  him  and  says  "Behold  thy  mother!"  As  if 
He  had  said,  "  I  am  now  dying ;  I  am  sundering  all  human  relations ; 
and  upon  thee  I  devolve  the  honour  and  duty  of  being  a  son  to  her  in 
My  stead  and  room.  When  I  am  gone,  comfort  her  and  provide  for 

1  Clemens  Alex.,  Tt's  6  <rwf''jj.?i>os  TrAoi^crto?.      „ 

2  John  xix.  25-27. 

3  Luke  ii.  35. 


108  THE    LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

her."  What  a  pattern  in  Christ's  tender  care  for  His  mother,  when  He 
was  enduring  the  terrible  agonies  of  the  cross,  we  have  for  all  children 
towards  their  parents  !  Unlike  the  Master  whom,  he  had  followed,  who 
had  not  where  to  lay  His  head,  John  had  a  ';  home,"  which  from  that 
hour  he  gladly  shared  with  her  whom  he  had  been  so  solemnly  charged 
to  treat  as  a  mother.  How  tenderly  he  watched  over  her,  as  she  de- 
scended into  the  vale  of  years !  And  when  her  pilgrimage  was  ended, 
how  piously  he  committed  her  ashes  to  the  sepulchre,  to  await  the 
second  coming  of  Him  who  once  hung  upon  her  breasts,  and  called 
her  mother !  l 

It  was  noon,  or  the  sixth  hour,  when  suddenly  the  sun  was  darkened, 
and  there  was  darkness  over  the  whole  land  until  the  ninth  hour.2 
An  awful  silence  seems  to  have  pervaded  Calvary  during  those  three 
mortal  hours.  The  mocking  words  and  jeering  voices  of  the  crowd 
were  stilled;  even  the  soldiers  were  dumb  with  terror.  During  these 
three  darkened  hours  not  a  word  was  spoken,  as  far  as  we  can  gather 
from  the  sacred  narrative,  by  Christ  Himself  or  not  until  they  were 
about  to  close.  At  the  ninth  hour,  as  the  darkness  began  to  clear 
away,  a  bitter  cry  of  agony  was  heard  from  the  cross,  "  Eloi,  Eloi,  lama 
sabachthani  ?  "  It  was  the  hiding  of  the  Father's  face  which  constituted 
the  bitterest  ingredient  in  the  cup  He  drank.  As  the  darkness  passed 
away,  there  was  revealed  to  the  throng  the  pale  dying  countenance  of 
the  Son  of  God.  One  dipped  a  sponge  in  the  acid  drink  used  by  the 
soldiers,  and,  putting  it  on  the  end  of  a  hyssop  branch,  raised  it  to  His 
lips.  Again  He  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  "  It  is  finished  :  "  "  Father, 
into  Thy  hands  I  commend  My  spirit ;  "  and  He  bowed  His  head,  and 
gave  up  the  Ghost.  It  is  finished  is  but  one  word  in  the  original.3 
But  what  a  world  of  joyful  meaning  is  contained  in  that  one  word  ! 
At  the  moment  of  His  death  there  were  other  fearful  portents.  The 
earth  quaked  and  the  rocks  rent,  the  veil  of  the  holy  of  holies  in  the 
temple  was  rent  asunder,  and  the  graves  of  many  that  slept  were 

1  To  use,  says  Trench,  the  language  of  the  learned  Gill :  "  Some  say  she  lived  with 
John  at  Jerusalem,  and  there  died  ;  and  others  say  that  she  died  in  the  twelfth  year 
after  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  being  fifty-nine  years  of  age,  and  was  buried  by 
John  in  the  garden  of  Gethsemane."     But  it  has  pleased  God,  adds  Trench,  to  en- 
velop all  this  in  doubt  and  mystery,  and  with  this  we  are  to  be  satisfied.     Nay 
more,  being  taught  by  the  errors  of  the  Church  of  Eome  in  regard  to  Mary,  we 
may  mark  the  wisdom  of  God  in  wrapping  up  the  matter  thus.     Life  of  St.  John, 
p.  112.    A  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Observer  in  a  recent  number  (Oct.  8th, 
1874)  gives  an  interesting  account  of  the  superstitious  beliefs  and  practices  main- 
tained at  the  present  day  at  Kome,  respecting  the  assumption  of  Mary,  which  has 
now  become  an  article  of  faith,  the  present  infallible  pope  obliging  people  to  believe 
what  was  condemned  by  one  of  his  predecessors. 

2  Matt,  xxvii.  45-56  ;  Mark  xv.  33-41 ;  Luke  xxiii.  44-49. 

3  Ter£\e<rrcu  !     John  xix.  30. 


THE    SPEAR-THRUST.  109 

opened.  "We  are  amazed  at  the  supine  inattention  of  the  unbelieving  to 
these  evidences,  which  were  represented  by  the  hand  of  Providence  to 
their  very  senses  :  turning  aside  from  the  awful  spectacle,  and  busying 
themselves  in  the  ordinary  occupations  of  life,  unconscious  of  what  was 
passing  around  them.  Better  to  interpret  this  indifference,  with  a  well- 
known  historian,1  as  another  mournful  proof  of  the  "ungodliness  and 
unrighteousness  of  men,"  than  attempt  to  reason  away  the  miracles  of 
the  crucifixion,  saying  that  the  trembling  and  the  darkening  of  the  sun 
were  the  natural  phenomena  of  a  volcanic  region,  and  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead  was  nothing  more  than  visionary  appearances  confined  to 
the  depressed  and  awe-struck  minds  of  the  disciples.2  These  were 
real  and  wonderful  miracles,  not  to  be  attributed  to  the  operation  of 
mere  natural  causes,  but  to  the  mighty  power  of  God,  as  if  nature  were 
in  part  in  sympathy  with  Him  who  died.  There  was  at  least  one  there 
who  did  not  share  in  the  indifference  with  which  the  great  multitude 
regarded  these  miracles,  but  whose  mind  was  deeply  impressed  by 
them,  and  who  afterwards,  if  he  did  not  then,  came  to  understand  the 
deep  significance  which  was  involved  in  them. 

When  the  soldiers  came  to  hasten  the  death  of  those  who  were 
hanging  on  the  crosses,  that  their  bodies  might  not  remain  there  on  the 
Sabbath  day,  they  found  our  blessed  Lord  already  dead.  Not  a  bone 
of  Him  was  broken.  The  record  of  the  apostle  John  here,  besides 
being  full  of  interest,  is  notably  that  of  an  eye-witness  :  "  Then  came 
the  soldiers,  and  brake  the  legs  of  the  first,  and  of  the  other  which  was 
crucified  with  him.  But  when  they  came  to  Jesus,  and  saw  that  He 
was  dead  already,  they  brake  not  His  legs  :  but  one  of  the  soldiers  with 
a  spear  pierced  His  side,  and  forthwith  came  there  out  blood  and 
water.  And  he  that  saw  it  bare  record,  and  his  record  is  true  :  and  he 


1  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall,  chap.  xv.  end. 

2  History  of  Christianity,  by  Milman  (London,  1840),  i. ,  p.  363.    His  language  is : 
"  This  supernatural  gloom  appears  to  resemble  that  terrific  darkness  which  precedes 
an  earthquake.     .     .     .  The  same  convulsion  (the  earthquake)  would  displace  the 
stones  which  covered  the  ancient  tombs,  and  lay  open  many  of  the  innumerable  rock- 
hewn  sepulchres  which  perforated  the  hills  on  every  side  of  the  city,  and  exposed 
the  dead  to  public  view.     To  the  awe-struck  and  depressed  minds  of  the  followers 
of  Jesus,  no  doubt,  were  confined  those  visionary  appearances  of  the  spirits  of  their 
deceased  brethren,  which  are  obscurely  intimated  in  the  rapid  narratives  of  the 
evangelists."      To  which  he  adds  in  a  footnote:  "  Those  who  assert  a  supernatural 
eclipse  of  the  sun  rest  on  a  most  dubious  and  suspicious  tradition,"  etc.      We 
vastly  prefer  the  manner  in  which  the  author  of  the  Decline  and  Fall  speaks  of 
these   and  other  miracles  of  the  Bible.     Milman's  views  of  the  miracles  of  the 
Bible  are  quite  fully  stated  in  the  preface  to  his  History  of  the  Jews.     He  says 
that  "  in  the  passage  of  the  Ked  Sea,  the  east  wind  which  '  the  Lord  caused  to 
blow,'   and  which  threw  back  the  waters,  was  in  itself  probably  no  rare  phe- 
nomenon," etc. 


110  THE    LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

knoweth  that  he  saith  true,  that  ye  might  believe."  l  This  flowing  of 
the  blood  and  water  together  from  the  wound  of  the  spear  made  a 
deep  impression  on  John ;  nothing  in  the  scene  of  the  crucifixion 
seems  to  have  made  a  deeper  impression.  It  was  in  particular  reference 
to  this  that  he  makes  his  testimony  so  strong  and  emphatic.  He  makes 
it  thus  emphatic,  because  the  testimony  is  so  important :  important  not 
only  as  part  of  the  conclusive  evidence  that  the  death  of  Christ  was  a 
real  death,  but  because  the  beloved  disciple  saw  something  eminently 
significant,  as  we  learn  not  only  from  the  manner  in  which  the  record 
is  made,  but  also  from  his  First  Epistle,  in  the  twofold  stream  of  water 
and  blood  which  flowed  from  the  wounded  side  of  Christ.  We  learn 
from  that  epistle  2  that  the  water  and  the  blood  belong  to  a  ternary  of 
witnesses  to  the  efficacy  of  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  In  them  is  the  evi- 
dence that  He  is  an  all-sufficient  Saviour.  The  water  and  the  blood 
flowing  together  from  the  same  fountain  are  symbolical  of  thesinlessness 
and  the  sufferings  of  the  Redeemer,  which  cannot  be  separated  in  His 
work  of  atonement.  And  they  are  at  the  same  time  significant  of  the 
two  great  benefits,  sanctification  and  justification,  which  also  cannot 
be  separated  in  believers  who  partake  of  the  benefits  of  His  atoning 
work.  This  passage  in  his  epistle,  written  late  in  life,  shows  how  deep 
was  the  impression  on  the  mind  of  John  made  by  the  events  of  which 
lie  was  a  witness  on  the  day  of  crucifixion,  and  how  he  was  qualified 
thereby  to  become  an  inspired  teacher  of  the  Church.  We  cannot 
well  understand  how  he  was  fitted  for  his  great  and  important  work, 
except  as  we  give  prominence  to  the  educating  influence  of  the  ministry 
of  Christ,  especially  of  its  concluding  period. 

And  now  the  evening  of  this  eventful  day,  the  brightest,  darkest, 
most  memorable  day,  on  which  morning  ever  dawned  or  evening 
closed,  had  come.  And  there  came  a  rich  man,  Joseph  of  Arimathea, 
an  honourable  counsellor,  who  went  in  boldly  unto  Pilate  (by  this  act 
openly  confessing  his  faith  in  Him  now  that  He  was  dead),  and  craved 
the  body  of  Jesus.  With  him  another  rich  man  and  counsellor, 
Nicodemus,  who  had  before  confessed  Christ,  united  in  paying  rites  of 
burial  to  His  body.  Never  was  money  more  worthily  expended  than 
for  the  linen  and  spices  with  which  these  men  wrapped  the  body  of 
Jesus.  They  laid  it  in  a  new  sepulchre  wherein  never  had  man  before 
been  laid.  John,  no  doubt,  as  well  as  the  women  of  Galilee,  saw  what 
was  done.  There  we  leave  this  body,  till  the  promised  morning  comes. 

1  John  xix.  32-35.  "  1  John  v.  6-8. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
ST.  JOHN  A  WITNESS  OF  THE  RESURRECTION"  OF  CHRIST. 

CHIEF    FUNCTIONS    OF  AN  APOSTLE. — EVIDENCE  OF    THE    RESURRECTION  OF 

CHRIST  AS  ADDRESSED  TO  ST.  JOHN. — HIS  TESTIMONY  ON  THIS  SUBJECT. 

MARY   MAGDALENE'S   MESSAGE  TO   ST.  PETER  AND  ST.  JOHN. — FIRST  AP- 
PEARANCE    OF    CHRIS  F. ST.     JOHN     SEES    THE     EMPTY     SEPULCHRE,    AND 

BELIEVES. — CHRIST     APPEARS     TO     MARY     MAGDALENE. — TO     ST.    PETER. 

TO    THE    TWO    DISCIPLES     GOING   TO     EMMAUS. — TO   TEN   APOSTLES    IN    THE 

EVENING. — TO   THE    ELEVEN,    EIGHT    DAYS   AFTER. TO    ST.    JOHN   AND    SIX 

OTHERS   AT    THE     SEA    OF    GALILEE. TO    FIVE     HUNDRED     DISCIPLES    ON    A 

MOUNTAIN    IN   GALILEE. — THE    ASCENSION.- — COMPETENCY    OF   APOSTLES   AS 
WITNESSES. — ST.    JOHN   NEITHER  AN    ENTHUSIAST   NOR   AN    IMPOSTOR. 

As  it  was  one  of  the  chief  functions  of  the  office  for  which  St.  John 
was  preparing,  and  in  the  exercise  of  which  he  was  to  spend  his  long 
life,  to  bear  witness  to  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  it  becomes  important 
to  notice  the  nature  and  sufficiency  of  the  evidence  on  which  he  and 
his  associates  in  this  office  founded  their  testimony. 

It  was  in  the  open,  empty  sepulchre  of  Jesus  that  St.  John  says  he 
"  saw  and  believed."1  Some  have  argued  that  he  meant  no  more  than 
that  he  believed  what  Mary  had  said  about  the  removal  of  the  body.2 
But  this  entirely  disagrees  with  the  force  of  this  expression  as  used  by 
him,  and  with  the  immediate  context :  "  For  as  yet  they  knew  not 
the  Scripture,  that  He  must  rise  again  from  the  dead  ;"  i.e.,  up  to  this 
time  he  and  his  companions  had  not  understood  the  Scripture,  but  now 
he  understood  it,  and  believed.  The  open  sepulchre  had  opened  his 
eyes.  The  fact  of  Christ's  resurrection  holds  so  essential  a  place  in 
the  religion  St.  John  went  forth  to  propagate,  and  in  which  he  per- 
formed so  conspicuous  a  part,  that  whatever  other  facts  are  proved, 
unless  this  be  established,  Christianity,  as  a  divinely  revealed  system, 
lacks  proof;  and  he  spent  his  life  under  the  power  of  a  gross 
delusion.  There  might  be  evidence,  for  example,  that  all  that  is  said 
respecting  the  birth  of  Christ  happened  just  as  it  is  recorded,  and  that 
we  have  a  true  account  of  His  teaching,  His  purity,  His  death ;  but 
without  the  proof  of  His  resurrection  it  would  only  be  established 
that  a  good  man  had  lived  and  taught,  and  was  martyred.  Now  what 
was  the  evidence  presented  to  the  mind  of  St.  John  and  his  fellow- 

1  John  xx.  8.  2  See  Newcome,  Ebrard,  Stier. 


112  THE    LIFE    AND   WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

apostles,  which  convinced  them,  and  rendered  them  unimpeachable 
witnesses  of  this  fact  ? 

The  evidence  John  had  that  Christ's  death  was  a  real  death,  was, 
in  the  first  place,  of  the  clearest  and  most  satisfactory  nature.  The 
soldiers  that  crucified  Him  made  themselves  sure  that  He  was  really 
dead.1  When  they  came  to  break  His  legs,  for  the  purpose  of  hasten- 
ing His  death,  they  found  that  He  was  dead  already ;  but  that  there 
might  be  no  danger  of  mistaking  a  swoon  for  real  death,  one  of  them 
pierced  His  side, — the  spear  penetrating  to  the  heart, — and  forthwith 
came  there  out  blood  and  water.  The  apostle  John  testifies  with  great 
emphasis  that  he  saw  this  done,  saw  the  blood  and  water  gushing,  as 
the  soldier  withdrew  the  spear.2  The  body  was  taken  down  from  the 
cross,  and  Joseph  of  Arimathea  having  obtained  permission  of  the 
governor  to  take  charge  of  it,3  in  company  with  Nicodemus,  wrapped 
it  in  linen  with  costly  spices,  and  laid  it  in  a  new  sepulchre  in  a  garden 
near  the  place  of  crucifixion.4  This  was  before  sunset  on  Friday.  On 
the  following  day,  the  chief  priests  and  Pharisees  went  to  Pilate,  and 
said,  "  Sir,  we  remember  that  that  deceiver  said,  while  He  was  yet 
alive,  After  three  days  I  will  rise  again."  They  requested  that  a  guard 
might  be  placed  to  prevent  His  disciples  from  coming  by  night  to  steal 
Him  away.  Their  request  was  granted  ;  and  they  were  told  to  make 
it  as  sure  as  they  could.  They  went  and  made  the  sepulchre  sure, 
sealing  the  stone  and  setting  a  watch.5 

The  Jewish  Sabbath,  corresponding  to  our  Saturday,  passes.  Early 
on  the  morning  of  the  first  day  of  the  week  there  was  a  great  earth- 
quake;6 an  angel  from  heaven  rolled  back  the  stone  from  the  door  of 

1  John  xix.  33. 

~  John  xix.  34-37.  The  short  time  He  was  suspended  on  the  cross  (as  those 
subjected  to  this  form  of  punishment  often  survived  two  or  three  days,  aud  cases 
are  cited  of  crucified  persons,  on  being  taken  down,  who  were  restored  to  life : 
Jos.,  Life,  75;  Herod.,  vii.  194)  might  to  some  suggest  a  case  of  swoo"n  rather 
than  death.  But  even  Kenan  admits  that  we  have  a  sufficient  guarantee  that 
Jesus  was  actually  dead,  in  the  suspicious  hatred  of  His  enemies.  "  They  must 
have  made  certain  that  He  was  actually  dead"  (Life  of  Jesus,  chap.  xxvi.).  The 
crurifragium  was  not  added  to  crucifixion  in  His  case,  because  the  soldiers  could 
find  no  signs  of  life  in  Him,  but  to  assure  themselves  that  He  was  dead  they 
deemed  it  sufficient  to  thrust  the  lance  into  His  side. 

a  According  to  the  law  of  the  Jews,  the  body  should  have  been  taken  away  and 
buried  in  the  spot  set  apart  for  criminals  ;  Mishna,  Sanhedrin,  vi.  5.  According  to 
that  of  the  Eomans  it  might  be  given  to  whomsoever  claimed  it.  Digest.,  xlviii.  24, 
De  cadaveribus  punitorum.  If  Jesus  had  not  numbered  among  His  disciples  such 
men  as  Joseph  of  Arimathea  and  Nicodemus,  the  Jewish  rule  would  probably  have 
been  followed. 

4  Matt,  xxvii.  57-60;  Markxv.  42-46;  Luke  xxiii.  50-53;  John  xix.  38-42. 

5  Matt,  xxvii.  62-66. 

6  Matt,   xxviii.   1-4 ;     Mark  xvi.   1-4 ;     Luke  xxiv.  1-7 ;    John  xx.  1-18.    In 


VISITS    THE    EMPTY    SEPULCHRE.  113 

the  sepulchre,  and  Jesus  arose,  but  no  mortal  eye  saw  Him  come 
forth.  Mary  Magdalene,  Mary  the  mother  of  James,  and  other 
Galilean  women,  having  prepared  spices  for  the  body,  came  to  the 
sepulchre.  They  found  the  stone  rolled  away,  but  the  body  of  Jesus 
was  not  there.  Mary  Magdalene  returned  immediately  into  the  city, 
to  inform  Peter  and  John.  While  she  was  gone  angels  appeared  to 
the  other  women,  who  told  them  they  were  seeking  the  living  among 
the  dead;  that  Jesus,  according  to  His  own  word,  had  risen;  and 
directed  them  to  go  into  the  city  and  tell  His  disciples.  On  their  way, 
in  obedience  to  the  angels,  Jesus  met  them,  and  they  embraced  His  feet, 
and  worshipped  Him.  This  was  His  first  appearance.  He  dispatched 
them  immediately  with  the  same  charge  they  had  received  from  the 
angels,  to  go  and  tell  the  apostles,  and  that  they  should  see  Him  in 
Galilee.1 

Meantime  John  and  Peter,  in  consequence  of  what  they  had  heard 
from  Mary  Magdalene,  hastened  to  the  sepulchre.  They  ran  both 
together;2  and  John  did  outrun  Peter,  and  came  first  to  the  sepulchre, 
and  was  stooping  down,  and  looking  on  the  linen  clothes,  when  Peter 
came  up,  and  passed  immediately  in.  John  is  most  graphic  in  his 
description  of  this  scene.  This  was  the  occasion  on  which  he  said,  he 
"  saw  and  believed."  The  graveclothes  were  there,  and  he  was  struck 

Matthew,  where  in  the  A.  V.  it  is  said  there  was  a  great  earthquake,  in  the  original 
the  language  is  (retoy-cds  eyevero  fjieyas,  there  was  a  great  shaking  or  concussion. 
Nothing  is  said  about  the  earth  as  in  chap,  xxvii.  51,  KCU  ij  y-fj  fffdadrj.  Whether  this 
shaking  extended  to  the  earth  has  been  and  may  be  questioned.  It  may  have 
extended  only  to  the  sepulchre.  There  was  a  shaking  or  trembling  of  the  rock- 
hewn  tomb.  An  earthquake  so  near,  and  yet  which  was  not  felt  throughout  the 
city,  could  scarcely  be  called  "  great." 

1  Matt,  xxviii.  5-10 ;  Mark  xvi.  5-8 ;  Luke  xxiv.  4.     "  A  difficulty  arises  here  in 
fixing  the  order  of  time  between  our  Lord's  appearance  to  Mary  Magdalene  and 
that  to  the  other  women.    This  arises  from  the  use  of  the  vford.  first  in  Mark  xvi.  9, 
which  seems  to  imply  that  this  appearance  to  Mary  Magdalene  was  the  first  of  all : 
'  He  appeared  first  to  Mary  Magdalene.'     Yet  the  whole  course  of  events  shows 
conclusively  that  Jesus  had  previously  appeared  to  the  other  women.     We  are 
therefore  compelled,  and  that  in  accordance  with  good  and  ordinary  usage,  to 
regard  '  first '  as  put  here   not  absolutely  but  relatively.      That  is  to  say,  Mark 
narrates  three,  and  only  three,  appearances  of  our  Lord ;  of  these  three  that  to  Mary 
Magdalene  takes  place  first,  and  that  to  the  assembled  disciples  the  same  evening 
occurs  last  (Mark  xvi.  14).     In  any  series  or  succession  of  events,  where  irpurov  and 
Vo-repov  are  employed,  whatever  may  be  the  number  of  intervening  terms,  irp&rov 
marks  the  first  of  the  series,  and  \xrrepov  the  last  of  the  same  series,  and  no  other  " 
(Eobinson's  Greek  Harm.,  §  164). 

2  "  Mirum  est,"  says  Calvin,  in  his  comment  on  this  incident,  "  quum  tarn 
pusilla  ac  fere  nulla  tarn  in  discipulis  quam  in  mulieribus  esset  fides,  tantum  fuisse 
ardoris.     Et  certe  fieri  non  potest  quin  pietas  eos  impulerit  ad  quasrendum  Chris- 
tum.    Manebat  igitur   semen  aliquod    fidei  in  eorum  cordibus,   sed   ad  tempus 
suffocatum,  ut  nescirent  se  habere  quod  habebant." 

I 


114  THE    LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

with  the  care  with  which  the  napkin  that  was  about  His  head  had  been 
folded,  and  laid  in  a  place  by  itself.1  They  went  away,  leaving  Mary, 
who  had  followed  them  back,  standing  without  the  sepulchre  weeping. 
Stooping  down,  she  looked  in,  and  saw  two  angels,  who  addressed  her 
tenderly  in  these  words,  "Woman,  why  weepest  thou?"  She  an- 
swered, "  Because  they  have  taken  away  my  Lord,  and  I  know  not 
where  they  have  laid  Him."  As  she  turned  around,  she  saw  Jesus, 
whom,  through  her  blinding  tears,  she  mistook  for  the  gardener,  but 
whom  she  immediately  recognised,  as  He  pronounced  her  name.  This 
was  Christ's  second  appearance.2 

His  next  appearance  was  to  Peter,  probably  early  in  the  afternoon 
of  the  same  day ;  for  He  had  been  seen  of  Cephas,  before  He  appeared 
to  the  two  disciples  on  their  way  to  Emmaus.3  It  was  towards  evening 
of  the  same  day  that  He  drew  near  and  went  with  these  disciples,  as 
they  walked,  communing  in  their  sadness.  Their  eyes  were  hoi  den 
that  they  should  not  know  Him.  They  invited  Him  as  they  approached 
the  village  to  take  up  His  abode  with  them ;  and  as  He  took  the  bread 
which  they  set  before  Him,  their  eyes  were  opened,  and  they  knew 
Him,  and  He  vanished  out  of  their  sight.4 

His  next  appearance  (His  first  to  John)  was  to  the  disciples,  assem- 
bled on  the  evening  of  the  day  on  which  He  arose  from  the  dead, 
Thomas  alone  of  the  eleven  being  absent.  As  John  saw  the  risen 
Lord,  what  must  have  been  his  emotions !  The  disciples  had  closed 
the  door  for  fear  of  the  Jews,  when  of  a  sudden  He  stood  in  the  midst 
of  them.  They  were  filled  with  terror,  supposing  that  it  was  an 
apparition  or  spirit  which  they  saw.  But  He  reassured  them,  by  His 
well-remembered  tones,  in  the  well-known  words,  "  Peace  be  unto 
you.' '  He  showed  them  His  hands  and  feet.  He  told  them  to  handle 
Him,  that  they  might  have  sensible  proof  that  He  was  not  a  mere 
spirit.  He  asked  for  food,  and  ate  it  in  their  presence.  He  opened 
their  understandings  to  understand  the  Scriptures  as  never  before.  He 
appointed  them  to  be  witnesses  of  His  death  and  resurrection.  He 
renewed  the  promise  of  the  Father  to  them,  that  they  should  be  endued 
with  power  from  on  high,  and  directed  them  where  to  wait  until  this 
promise  should  be  fulfilled.5  These  five  appearances  all  took  place  at  or 
near  Jerusalem,  on  the  same  day  on  which  our  Lord  arose. 

1  Luke  xxiv.  12 ;  John  xx.  3-10. 

2  Mark  xvi.  9-11 ;  John  xx.  11-18. 

3  1  Cor.  xv.  5  ;  Luke  xxiv.  34. 

4  Luke  xxiv.  13-35. 

5  Mark  xvi.  14-18 ;  Luke  xxiv.  36-49 ;  John  xx.  19-23.      He  breathed  upon 
them,  adding  in  explanation  "  Keceive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost."     It  was  a  sign  of  the 
inspiration  they  were  to  receive  to  fit  them  to  preach  the  gospel  and  proclaim 
forgiveness  of  sins.    "  But  it  was  something  more  than  a  sign  or  symbol ;  a  Divine 


"  LOVEST   THOU   ME  ?  "  115 

Eight  days  after  He  appeared  again  to  the  apostles,  when  Thomas 
was  present.  The  doors  were  closed  as  on  the  former  occasion,  when 
Jesus  stood  suddenly  in  their  presence.  John  of  course  was  present. 
He  was  not  alone,  in  some  solitary  place,  in  the  still  watches  of  the 
night.  He  had  the  senses  of  ten  other  men  in  which  he  could  con- 
fide, in  addition  to  his  own,  testifying  to  the  reality  of  what  he  saw. 
He  saw  Thomas,  who  was  so  slow  of  faith,  convinced,  and  the  test 
which  he  had  prescribed  applied :  "  Reach  hither  thy  finger,  and  be- 
hold My  hands  ;  and  reach  hither  thy  hand,  and  thrust  it  into  My  side, 
and  be  not  faithless  but  believing."  The  convinced  apostle  cried  out, 
MY  LORD,  AND  MY  Goo.1 

The  apostles  now  went  away  into  Galilee  to  await  the  appointed 
time  to  meet  their  risen  Master  on  a  certain  mountain,  designated  by 
Him.  While  they  were  waiting  He  appeared  to  seven  of  them,  St.  John 
being  of  the  number,  engaged  in  fishing  on  the  Sea  of  Tiberias.  They 
had  toiled  all  night,  and  taken  nothing.  When  the  morning  dawned, 
.they  saw  a  person  standing  on  the  shore,  who  told  them  on  which  side 
to  cast  their  net.  They  cast  as  directed,  and  were  not  able  to  draw  it 
for  the  multitude  of  fishes.  St.  Peter  at  once  exclaimed,  "  It  is  the 
Lord,"  and  cast  himself  into  the  sea,  and  swam  to  the  shore.  The 
other  disciples  followed,  dragging  the  net  filled  with  great  fishes. 
They  found  a  fire  of  coals,  and  a  repast  already  prepared.  And  now 
occurred  that  touching  scene,  when  the  Lord  proposed  the  searching, 
thrice-put  question  to  St.  Peter,  "  Lovest  thou  Me  ?  "  and  called  forth 
from  him  the  heartfelt  exclamation,  "  Lord,  Thou  knowest  all  things ; 
Thou  knowest  that  I  love  Thee."  2  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  our 
Lord,  in  answer  to  a  question  of  St.  Peter,  said  of  the  beloved  disciple, 
"  If  I  will  that  he  tarry  till  I  come,  what  is  that  to  thee  ?  "  a  saying 

operation  accompanied  it.  It  formed  a  link  of  connection  between  the  promise  of 
the  Spirit  and  its  fulfilment ;  between  the  impressions  which  Christ's  personal 
intercourse  had  made  upon  the  apostles,  and  the  great  fact  which  we  designate  as 
the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit."  See  Neander's  Life  of  Christ,  §  301. 

1  John  xx.  24-29.      The  words  of  Thomas,  '0  Ktfptos  fj.ov  /cat  6  deos  /JLOV,  are  not  a 
mere  exclamation  of  astonishment,  but  a  confession  of  his  faith.     This  is  evident 
from  the  direv  avT$,  and  the  impossibility  of  referring  '0  Ktpi6s  pov  to  any  other 
than  Jesus. 

2  The  threefold  question  manifestly  has  reference  to  the  threefold  denial  of 
Peter.     In  the  first  two  questions  our  Lord  uses  the  word  aya.7rq.s,  lovest  thou;  in 
the  last,  </>i\ers.     In  his  answers  Peter  invariably  says  0iA<3  ae.      It  is  a  declaration 
of  his  personal  attachment,  and  yet  it  is  expressed  with  humility,  as  the  circum- 
stances demanded.     Though  he  might  be  wanting  in  the  Divine  measure  of  love 
that  belongs  to  Jesus,  he  knew  that  he  loved  Him.   He  uses  a  word  of  less  meaning 
than  that  used  by  Christ,  and  when  the  Saviour,  in  His  last  question,  used  the 
same  term,  he  answered  with  increased  emphasis,  "  Thou  knowest  all  things,  Thou 
knowest,"  etc. 


116  THE    LIFE    AND   WRITINGS   OP   ST.  JOHN. 

which  the  disciples  falsely  interpreted  as  meaning  that  "  that  disciple 
should  not  die."  l 

The  appointed  time  had  arrived,  and  John  went  with  his  companions 
to  the  mountain.  It  was  on  this  occasion,  it  is  supposed,  that  our 
Lord  showed  Himself  to  more  than  five  hundred  brethren  at  once, 
the  greater  part  of  whom  were  alive  at  the  time  St.  Paul  wrote  his 
First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians.2  The  formal  appointment  to  meet 
His  disciples  on  the  mountain  in  Galilee  was  doubtless  made  known  to 
the  whole  brotherhood  as  extensively  as  possible ;  and  this  concourse 
was  probably  gathered,  not  only  from  the  surrounding  country,  but 
even  from  Jerusalem  ;  for  who  of  His  followers,  who  knew  of  the 
appointed  meeting,  and  could  reach  the  place,  would  willingly  have 
been  absent  ?  On  this  occasion,  in  this  great  convocation,  the  eleven, 
it  is  to  be  presumed,  were  in  a  solemn  manner  set  apart  to  the  apostle- 
ship.  They  were  commissioned  to  go  and  teach  all  nations,  baptizing 
them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  had  been  com- 
manded them.  And  the  promise  was  added,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you 
always,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world." 

At  last  St.  John  saw  Him,  with  all  the  apostles,  at  the  time  of  His 
ascension.  He  led  them  out  of  Jerusalem  as  far  as  to  Bethany,3  where 
He  was  parted  from  them  and  carried  up  to  heaven.  While  they 
beheld  He  was  taken  up,  and  a  cloud  received  Him  out  of  their  sight. 
As  they  stood  gazing  up  into  heaven,  at  the  place  where  He  had  dis- 
appeared, two  men  in  white  apparel  came  and  told  them  that  this  same 
Jesus,  who  had  been  taken  up  from  them  into  heaven,  should  so  come, 
in  like  manner,  as  they  had  seen  Him  go  into  heaven.4 

Thus  was  the  proof  completed.  His  departure  from  the  world,  like 
His  entrance  into  it,  was  miraculous.  Nothing  was  wanting 

1  John  xxi.  1-24.     The  erroneous  interpretation  of  our  Lord's  words  respecting 
St.  John,  that  he  should  not  die,  laid  very  strong  hold  on  the  early  Church.     Dean 
Stanley  says  that  it  "required  nearly  seventeen  centuries  to  shake  it  entirely  off." 
Sermons  and  Essays  on  the  Apostolical  Age,  p.  146. 

2  1  Cor.  xv.  6. 

3  "E£w  ets  ~Bri6a.viav,  Luke  xxiv.  50,  "  He  led  them  out  as  far  as  to  Bethany."    It 
was  here,  as  He  blessed  them,  that  He  was  parted  from  them,  and  ascended  to 
heaven.     Bethany  lies  on  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Mount  of  Olives,  not  far  from  a 
mile  below  the  summit  of  the  ridge.     In   Acts  i.  12  Luke  relates  that  after  the 
ascension  the   disciples  returned  to  Jerusalem  "  from  the  mount  called  Olivet." 
Luke  uses  the  terms  Bethany  and  Mount  of  Olives  as  interchangeable,  and  almost 
synonymous.    Comp.  Matt.  xxi.  17  ;  Mark  xi.  11,  19,  20  ;  Luke  xxi.  37  ;  and  see  an 
article  by  Kev.  Dr.  Edw.  Eobinson,  in  reply  to  the  objections  of  the  Eev.  Mr.  Newman, 
of  Oxford,  in  the  Biblioth.  Sac.  for  February,  1843,  p.  176,  seq. 

4  Markxvi.  19,  20;  Luke  xxiv.  50-53;  Acts  i.  9-12.    Were  the  two  men  Moses 
and  Elias  ?     See  Alexander  on  Acts  i.  10. 


INFALLIBLE    PROOFS.  ]  1  7 

essential  to  a  full  conviction  in  the  mind  of  John,  and  of  his  brother 
apostles,  that  He  was  the  Son  of  God,  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  In 
His  ascension  St.  John  saw  the  humanity  of  Jesus  glorified,  and  a 
clear  manifestation  of  His  essential  deity.  Such  were  the  many 
infallible  proofs  by  which  He  showed  Himself  alive  after  His  passion. 
The  fact  of  His  death,  let  it  be  added  here,  was  never  called  in 
question  by  His  enemies,  but  was  fully  admitted  by  the  story  to  which 
they  sought  to  gain  credence,  and  to  give  currency,  through  the  agency 
of  the  soldiers  who  were  set  to  watch  the  tomb,  that  while  they  slept 
His  disciples  came  and  stole  Him  away. 

It  is  true  none  of  the  witnesses  were  present  when  He  arose.  No 
mortal  saw  Him  come  out  of  the  tomb,  as  Lazarus  was  seen  to  come 
out  when  he  was  raised  from  the  dead.  But  He  was  seen  alive  in  the 
same  body  in  which  He  suffered,  during  forty  days,  by  those  who  saw 
Him  dead  and  buried,  who  were  distinctly  advertised,  before  His  final 
departure  from  the  world,  that  they  were  appointed  to  be  witnesses  of 
these  things ;  and  He  was  also  seen  by  many  others,  who  had  the 
most  undeniable  evidence  that  He  was  crucified,  dead,  and  buried. 
There  was  no  expectation  with  the  women  to  whom  He  first  appeared, 
nor  with  His  disciples,  that  He  would  rise  again.  Although  He  had 
repeatedly  foretold  His  resurrection,  it  is  evident  they  had  not  under- 
stood Him,  and  knew  not  the  Scriptures  that  He  must  rise  again. 
Certainly  they  were  not  looking  for  His  return  at  the  time  He  ap- 
peared. They  were  not  in  a  frame  of  mind  to  be  deceived  by  some 
phantom  of  the  imagination.  The  women,  to  whom.  He  first  appeared, 
held  Him  by  the  feet  as  they  worshipped.  Mary  Magdalene,  mistaking 
Him  through  her  tears  for  the  gardener,  instantly  knew  His  voice  as 
He  pronounced  her  name. 

If  it  be  asked  why  He  did  not  show  himself  publicly  at  Jerusalem,  in 
the  streets  and  in  the  temple,  as  before  His  crucifixion,  it  is  a  sufficient 
answer,  that  it  would  have  been  contrary  to  the  whole  course  of  His 
former  life  and  ministry,  in  which  He  never  sought  to  dazzle  and  con- 
found the  senses  of  men ;  and  to  that  fundamental  principle  of  His 
kingdom,  which  He  had  laid  down,  that  it  cometh  not  with  "  observa- 
tion," as  well  as  to  His  direct  teaching  that  they  who  believe  not 
Moses  and  the  prophets  (and  He  might  have  added  who  believed  not, 
in  view  of  His  own  teaching  and  miracles)  would  not  believe  though 
one  rose  from  the  dead.1 

1  Strauss,  in  his  new  Life  of  Jesus,  advocates  the  theory  that  the  appearances 
of  Jesus  to  His  disciples  were  nothing  more  than  visions,  and  has  prepared  his 
argument  with  special  care.  A  vision  is  distinguished  from  an  appearance  in  that 
it  exists  for  the  mind  only.  He  lays  special  emphasis  on  the  passage,  1  Cor.  xv. 
3-8,  in  which  the  apostle  speaks  of  the  appearance  to  himself,  on  the  way  to 


118  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF    ST.  JOHN. 

The  apostle  John,  therefore,  had  as  good  evidence,  and  his  testimony 
is  as  reliable,  as  if  he  had  been  present  when  the  angel  rolled  away  the 
stone,  and  the  Lord  of  life  emerged  from  the  tomb.  He  had  every 
opportunity  to  be  satisfied  of  the  verity  of  the  facts  to  which  he  testi- 
fies. In  bearing  this  testimony,  he  sacrificed  or  endangered  all  his 
temporal  interests,  and  had  not  the  least  prospect  of  any  earthly  advan- 
tage or  reward.  He  was  steadfast  to  this  testimony,  when  the  fiercest 
persecutions  raged.  If  he  did  not  seal  it  with  his  blood,  which  was 
literally  true  of  nearly,  if .  not  quite,  all  the  rest  of  the  apostles,  we 
nevertheless  have  in  him  an  example  of  unwavering  steadfastness  in  it 
through  all  the  trying  and  chequered  scenes  of  a  life,  continued  to  quite 
a  century,  through  persecutions  which  his  brethren,  whose  course  was 
shorter,  escaped ;  which  certainly  renders  his  testimony  of  no  less 
value.  These  men  unite  in  telling  us  how  at  first  they  were  unbeliev- 
ing, or  wholly  ignorant  of  the  meaning  of  Scripture,  and  of  the 
Saviour's  own  predictions  on  the  subject,  and  were  even  terrified  at  the 
sight  of  the  risen  Lord.  They  show  us  by  what  evidence  they  were 
convinced  of  His  resurrection  ;l  and  being  convinced,  they  never  after- 
wards swerved. 


Damascus,  as  of  the  same  nature  as  that  to  His  disciples  at  Jerusalem.  And  he 
argues  that  the  appearance  to  Saul  of  Tarsus  must  have  been  simply  and  purely  a 
vision,  from  his  own  words,  Gal.  i.  16 :  "  It  pleased  God  to  reveal  His  Son  in  me." 
But  St.  Paul  does  not  confound  a  vision  with  an  actual  appearance.  His  argument, 
in  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  for  the  bodily  resurrection  of  believers,  would 
have  no  foundation  if  he  had  intended  to  speak  of  a  mental  vision,  rather  than  the 
actual  sight  of  the  risen  Christ,  when  he  says,  "He  was  seen  of  James,  then  of  all  the 
apostles,  and  last  of  all  He  was  seen  of  me,"  etc. 

Eenan,  with  less  or  rather  with  no  attempt  whatever  at  argument,  refers  to  the 
morbid  condition  or  strong  imagination  of  Mary  Magdalene,  who  had  been  possessed 
of  seven  devils.  "  Divine  power  of  love  !  "  he  exclaims,  "  sacred  moments  in  which 
the  passion  of  a  hallucinated  woman  gives  to  the  world  a  resurrected  God." 

1  "  One  and  all  of  them  regarded  His  first  appearance  to  them  sceptically,  and  took 
pains  to  satisfy  themselves,  or  made  it  necessary  that  Jesus  should  take  pains  to 
satisfy  them,  that  the  visible  object  was  no  ghostly  apparition,  but  a  living  man, 
and  that  man  none  other  than  He  who  had  died  on  the  cross.  The  disciples 
doubted  now  the  substantiality,  now  the  identity,  of  the  person  who  appeared  to 
them.  They  were  therefore  not  content  with  seeing  Jesus,  but  at  His  own  request 
handled  Him.  One  of  their  number  not  only  handled  the  body  to  ascertain  that  it 
possessed  the  incompressibility  of  matter,  but  insisted  on  examining,  with  sceptical 
ingenuity,  those  parts  which  had  been  injured  with  the  nails  and  the  spear.  The 
power  of  imagination  and  nervous  excitement  we  know  can  do  much.  It  has  often 
happened  to  men  in  an  abnormal,  excited  state,  to  see,  projected  into  outward  space, 
the  creations  of  a  heated  brain.  But  persons  in  a  crazy  state  like  that,  subject  to 
hallucination,  are  not  usually  cool  and  rational  enough  to  doubt  the  reality  of  what 
they  see ;  nor  is  it  necessary  in  their  case  to  take  pains  to  overcome  such  doubts. 
What  they  need,  rather,  is  to  be  made  aware  that  what  they  think  they  see  is  not  a 
reality :  the  very  reverse  of  what  Christ  had  to  do  for  the  disciples,  and  did,  by  solemn 


SUMMARY    OF    EVIDENCE.  119 

Such  is  the  evidence  that  St.  John  the  apostle  was  no  mere  enthu- 
siast, led  astray  by  an  impostor,  and  deceived  by  the  phantasies  of  his 
own  excited  imagination.  He  saw  the  risen  Lord,  again  and  again,  in 
company  with  others,  with  every  advantage  of  being  certified  that  He 
was  the  same  Jesus  whom  he  saw  expire  on  the  cross.  He  received  the 
testimony  of  others  who  saw  Him  when  he  was  not  present,  and  in 
whom  he  had  the  best  reason  to  repose  the  fullest  confidence, — that  of 
Peter,  of  the  two  disciples  going  to  Emmaus,  of  James  who  had  been 
once  the  unbelieving  kinsman  of  the  Lord,  his  own  mother  Salome, 
Mary  Magdalene,  and  other  women  of  Galilee.  His  confidence  in  the 
fact  of  Christ's  resurrection,  instead  of  growing  weaker,  became 
stronger  as  he  advanced  in  age,  in  knowledge,  and  experience.  His 
account l  of  it  was  written  when  he  was  far  advanced  in  years.  And  at 
a  still  later  period  he  says  :  "  That  which  was  from  the  beginning, 
which  we  have  heard,  which  we  have  seen  with  our  eyes,  which  we 
have  looked  upon,  and  our  hands  have  handled  of  the  Word  of  life 
.  .  .  declare  we  unto  you." 2 

When  we  inquire,  more  at  large,  what  was  the  nature  of  that  evidence 
which  convinced  him,  in  opposition  to  all  his  Jewish  prejudices,  against 
all  the  passions  of  corrupt  nature,  and  all  the  powers  of  a  frowning 
world,  the  answer  is  not  difficult.  The  resurrection  of  Christ  did  but 
crown  a  life  which  began  in  a  miracle  and  was  a  life  of  miracles.  He 
had  seen  Jesus  again  and  again  perform  works  in  which  there  was  a 
sensible  departure  from  the  established  laws  of  nature.  He  had  seen 
effects  which  could  not  possibly  have  been  the  result  of  any  other  cause 
than  the  direct  interposition  of  the  power  of  Him  who  is  the  author  of 
nature  and  its  laws.  There  could  be  no  delusion  or  mistake,  for  these 
miracles  were  palpable  facts,  addressed  to  the  senses,  and  many  of  them 
were  attended  by  lasting  effects.  He  had  seen  men  raised  to  sudden 
health  from  sickness,  or  who  were  born  blind  seeing,  or  crippled  walk- 
ing ;  he  had  seen  the  dead,  from  the  couch,  from  the  bier,  and  from  a 
four  days'  burial,  coming  to  life,  and  continuing  active  for  a  season 
(after  reviviscence)  in  the  affairs  of  this  world.  He  saw  this  power  of 
miracles  not  pompously  displayed,  nor  exercised  for  the  destruction  of 
enemies  or  the  aggrandisement  of  friends,  but  unostentatiously 
employed  for  benevolent  and  holy  ends. 

There  was  another  form  of  evidence,  to  wit,  the  prophecies  respect- 
ing Messiah,  in  the  ancient  Scriptures,  which  John  could  plainly  see 

assertion  that  He  was  no  spirit,  by  inviting  them  to  handle  Him,  to  satisfy  them- 
selves of  His  material  substantiality,  and  by  partaking  of  food  in  their  presence  " 
(The  Training  of  the  Twelve,  by  Bruce,  p.  497). 

1  John  xx. 

2  1  John  i.  1-3. 


120  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF   ST.  JOHN. 

were  accomplished  in  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  These  Scriptures  were  in  the 
custody,  as  they  still  are,  of  the  Jews  themselves,  who  for  ages  had 
preserved  them  with  the  utmost  care  and  reverence.  The  prophecies 
they  contain  were  delivered  centuries  before  the  birth  of  Jesus ;  and 
nearly  three  hundred  years  before  that  event,  the  Scriptures  containing 
them  had  been  translated,  and  widely  disseminated  in  the  Greek  lan- 
guage, the  language  of  the  then  literature  of  the  world.1  They  con- 
tain distinct  predictions  of  the  particular  seed,  line,  and  even  family, 
of  which  Jesus  was  born.  They  foretell  the  place,  the  time,  and  circum- 
stances of  His  advent.  They  describe  His  forerunner.  They  predict 
in  graphic  terms  the  very  miracles  He  performed.  They  foretell  that 
He  would  be  despised  and  rejected  of  men,  that  He  should  be  slain, 
should  lie  in  the  grave,  but  should  rise  again.2  The  fulfilment  of  these 
Old  Testament  prophecies  in  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  the  finger  of  God 
pointing  directly  to  Him.  They  who  saw  them  fulfilled  in  Jesus  could 
not  do  otherwise  than  believe  that  He  was  the  promised  Saviour  of  the 
world.  He  was  Himself  a  prophet.  He  foretold  events  so  near,  some 
regulated  by  the  caprice  of  men,  and  others  which  depended  purely  on 
the  will  of  God,  that  they  who  heard  them  from  His  lips  were  the 
witnesses  of  their  fulfilment.  He  foretold  again  and  again  His  own 
death  and  resurrection,  the  conduct  of  His  followers  after  He  should 
leave  them,  His  ascension  to  heaven,  and  the  pouring  out  of  the  Spirit. 
He  predicted  and  circumstantially  described  the  destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem. 

But  the  evidence  contained  in  His  doctrine  must  be  added  to  that 
derived  from  miracles  and  prophecy.  John  heard  words,  as  they  fell 
warm  and  glowing  from  the  lips  of  Jesus,  which  have  excited  the 
admiration  for  ages  of  some  of  the  most  gifted  intellects.  He  felt  the 
authority  which  accompanied  His  teaching — a  certain  majesty  and 
power  which  belonged  to  unmixed  truth  and  perfect  goodness.  His 
reason,  his  conscience,  his  heart,  were  addressed  by  ONE  who  needed 
not  that  any  should  testify  what  is  in  man ;  who  could  unfold  the  most 
secret  feelings;  who  could  so  hold  up  a  mirror  to  his  inner  nature  3  that 
he  should  see  even  more  than  he  knew  to  be  there  before.  It  was  not 

1  The  most  probable  date  of  the  completion  of  the  translation  of  the  Scriptures 
into  Greek  is  about  the  year  B.C.  285,  when  Ptolemy  Lagus  and  Ptolemy  Philadel- 
phus  were  kings  of  Egypt.     It  is  called  the  Septuagint,  either  because  the  number 
of  translators   supposed  to  be   engaged  in  it  was   seventy,   or  because   it   was 
approved    by  the  Jewish    Sanhedrin,  consisting  of    seventy-two    persons.      This 
version  was  in  common  use  in  the  synagogues,  and  it  is  from  this  that  the  New 
Testament  more  frequently  quotes  than  from  the  Hebrew. 

2  Gen.  xlix.  10  ;  Isa.  xl.  9  ;  xli.  27 ;  Hag.  ii.  6-9  ;  Micah  v.  2  ;  Mai.  iii.  1 ;  iv.  5  j 
Isa.  vii.  14 ;  Zech.  ix.  9  ;  Isa.  xliii.  1-3  ;  xxxv.  5,  6  ;  liii.,  etc. 

3  Matt.  xx.  22 ;  Luke  ix.  55,  etc. 


WORDS   AND   WORKS    OF   CHRIST.  121 

possible  that  the  Son  of  God  should  come  into  the  world  without  bring- 
ing with  Him  convincing  evidence  in  His  words,  as  well  as  His  works, 
whence  He  came.  He  brought  that  evidence  in  its  fulness  and  bright- 
ness ;  and  the  reason  why  all  men  should  have  yielded  to  it  is  inti- 
mated in  the  words  which  He  Himself,  recpgnising  the  light  which 
one  branch  of  the  twofold  evidence  in  His  favour  reflected  on  the  other, 
addressed  to  a  company  of  Jews,  who  were  divided  in  their  opinions  in 
regard  to  Him  :  "  If  I  do  not  the  works  of  My  Father,  believe  Me  not. 
But  if  I  do,  though  ye  believe  not  Me,  believe  the  works,  that  ye  may 
know,  and  believe  that  the  Father  is  in  Me,  and  I  in  Him.*'1  While  the 
works  of  Christ  proved  His  doctrine  true,  His  doctrine  was  the  evi- 
dence that  His  works  were  wrought  by  the  power  of  God. 

1  John  x.  37,  38. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
HISTOEY  OF  ST.  JOHN  IN  THE  ACTS  OF  THE  APOSTLES. 

HE     RETURNS     TO     JERUSALEM    TO    AWAIT     THE    PROMISE     OF   THE    SPIRIT. — 
GALILEE     NO   LONGER    HIS    HOME. — APOSTLES   ASSEMBLED     IN     THE     UPPER 

ROOM. ST.  JOHN   AND   THE    MOTHER   OF     JESUS. — MARY   DISAPPEARS    FROM 

HISTORY. — MATTHIAS     ELECTED     AN     APOSTLE. DAY     OF      PENTECOST. 

APOSTLES  IN  ONE  OF  THE  STOAS  OF  THE  TEMPLE. — TONGUES  OF  FLAME. 
— THREE  THOUSAND  CONVERTED. — ST.  JOHN  ENGAGED  IN  EVANGELIC 
WORK. — ITS  EFFECT  ON  HIM. — MIRACLE  AT  THE  GATE  BEAUTIFUL  OF 
THE  TEMPLE. — ST.  JOHN'S  FIRST  IMPRISONMENT. — ARRAIGNED  BEFORE 
THE  HIGH-PRIEST. — SECOND  TIME  IMPRISONED. — THE  WORK  ADVANCING. 
— MISSION  OF  ST.  JOHN  AND  ST.  PETER  TO  SAMARIA. — TIBERIUS.— 

CALIGULA. — AGRIPPA    I. — PUBLIUS. — PETRONIUS. CLAUDIUS. — MARTYRDOM 

OF  ST.  JAMES. — ANTIOCH. — THE  JEWISH  PARTY. — COUNCIL  AT  JERUSALEM. 
— ST.  JOHN  A  PILLAR  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

ON  the  spot  where  His  sacred  feet  last  rested,  John  bowed,  and  wor- 
shipped the  ascended  Saviour.  He  then  returned  with  his  com- 
panions into  the  city,  there  to  await,  agreeably  to  the  direction,  the 
promise  of  the  Spirit  to  be  received  from  Him.  Daily  he  resorted 
with  them  to  the  temple,  praising  and  blessing  God.  He  had  seen  His 
open  sepulchre ;  he  had  seen  Him  ascend ;  and  he  knew  that  He  was 
entered  into  His  glory,  and  was  able  to  fulfil  His  promise,  "  I  will  not 
leave  you  comfortless;  I  will  come  unto  you." 

Galilee,  so  long  hallowed  by  the  presence  and  deeds  of  Jesus,  is  no 
more  the  apostles'  home.  They  are  to  obey  the  command,  "Go  ye 
into  all  the  world;"  but  Jerusalem  is  for  the  present  to  be  their  head- 
quarters, and  to  be  made  the  centre  of  the  great  movement. 
"  When  they  were  come  in  they  went  up  into  an  upper  room :  " 
was  it  the  same  in  which  they  had  partaken  of  the  Passover,  and 
the  Lord's  Supper,  already  consecrated  by  the  farewell  words  of  their 
crucified  and  ascended  Lord?1  Here  were  all  the  eleven,  not  one 

1  T6  virepyov,  the  upper  chamber.  It  was  not  an  apartment  in  the  temple,  as 
some  of  the  earlier  interpreters  supposed,  but  belonged  probably  to  the  private 
residence  of  some  friend  of  Jesus.  The  article,  the  upper  room,  Dr.  J.  Addison 
Alexander  thinks,  refers  to  something  previously  mentioned,  or  already  known. 
"  This  is  altogether  natural  if  we  suppose  them  to  have  still  frequented  the  same 
upper  room,  in  which  they  had  partaken  of  the  Passover,  and  which  had  been 
designated  by  the  Lord  in  a  remarkable  manner  (Matt.  xxvi.  18 ;  Mark  xiv.  15 ; 
Luke  xxii.  12).  This  is  much  more  probable  than  that  they  had  procured  another 


ELECTION    OF   AN    APOSTLE.  123 

missing, — Peter,  James,  John,  Andrew,  Philip,  Bartholomew,  Thomas, 
Matthew,  James  son  of  Alpheus,  Simon  Zelotes,  and  Judas  the  brother 
of  James.  And  they  continued,  with  the  most  perfect  unanimity  of 
feeling  and  sentiment,  from  day  to  day,  in  prayer  and  supplication. 
The  pious  women,  who  had  been  so  faithful  to  Christ,  in  His  life  and 
death,  were  admitted  to  the  privileges  of  this  little  assembly.  Among 
them  were  Salome  the  mother  of  John,  Mary  the  mother  of  Jesus, 
and  Mary  the  mother  of  James  the  less.1  This  is  the  last  time  the 
name  of  the  mother  of  our  Lord  occurs  in  the  New  Testament  history. 
John  had  received  the  charge  from  the  lips  of  the  Saviour,  dying 
on  the  cross,  "  Son,  behold  thy  mother  !  "  He  cheerfully  accepted  it, 
for  he  tells  us  2  that  from  that  hour  he  took  her  to  his  own  home. 
His  father,  Zebedasus,  who  had  been  possessed  of  property,  was  probably 
deceased ;  and  it  would  seem  that  John  already  had  a  house,  or  was 
able  to  provide  one,  in  Jerusalem.  It  was  not  with  the  beloved  dis- 
ciple as  with  his  Master,  who  had  not  where  to  lay  His  head.  To  his 
home  he  took  Mary,  that  "  blessed  among  women " ;  and  with  what 
filial  devotion  he  provided  for  her  wants,  soothed  her  sorrows,  and 
smoothed  her  pathway  to  the  tomb  !  According  to  one  tradition,  she 
died  early  in  Jerusalem  ;  according  to  another,  she  accompanied  John 
when  he  removed  to  Ephesus,  and  died  there  at  an  advanced  age. 
But  whether  her  stay  on  earth  was  longer  or  shorter,  she  never  had 
occasion  to  suspect  that  her  confidence  in  the  words,  "  Behold  thy 
son !  "  had  been  misplaced.  It  is  a  most  striking  comment  on  the 
position  the  Church  of  Rome  assigns  to  her,  that  she  fills  so  small  a 
space  both  in  inspired  and  in  uninspired  history.  She  retires  from  the 
stage  of  human  affairs,  disappearing  in  the  family  circle  of  the  beloved 
apostle,  and  nothing  is  known  of  the  events  of  her  subsequent  life,  nor 
of  the  circumstances  and  period  of  her  death. 

As  the  apostles  continue,  day  after  day,  in  prayer  and  supplication, 
in  the  upper  room,  and  in  their  visits  to  the  temple,  praising  and 
blessing  God,  they  are  led  to  take  notice  of  the  gap  in  their  number, 
occasioned  by  the  defection  of  Judas  Iscariot.  In  order  to  complete 

place  for  their  assemblies,  either  in  a  private  house,  or  in  the  precincts  of  the 
temple.  Even  supposing  that  they  could  have  been  accommodated  in  one  of  the 
chambers  or  small  houses  which  surrounded  the  courts  of  the  temple, -they  could 
have  had  no  reason  for  preferring  it  to  one  already  consecrated  by  the  presence 
and  farewell  words  of  their  ascended  Master."  See  Alexander  on  The  Acts,  in 
loco. 

1  Acts  i.  13,  14.     J.  A.  Alexander  thinks  there  is  no  express  reference  to  the 
women  that  accompanied  Him  from  Galilee,  but  that,  according  to  a  strict  transla- 
tion, the  meaning  is  that  there  were  women  as  well  as  men  in  the  assembly  ;  i.e., 
it  was  not  confined  to  either  sex. 

2  John  XAX.  27. 


124  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF   ST.  JOHN. 

their  number  as  originally  constituted,  the  disciples  in  and  around 
Jerusalem  are  called  together.  They  assembled  to  the  number  of 
about  one  hundred  and  twenty.  Peter  takes  the  lead.  He  is  spokes- 
man, as  on  former  occasions  in  their  intercourse  with  their  Master, 
not  on  account  of  any  superiority  or  primacy,  as  of  right  belonging  to 
him,  but  probably  on  account  of  his  age,  and  his  character  for  ready 
action.  John  must  of  course  have  taken  a  deep  interest  in  the  im- 
portant transaction  ;  but  if  he  is  less  conspicuous  here,  and  throughout 
the  history  of  the  Acts,  than  Peter,  it  must  be  remembered  how  much 
he  was  his  junior,  and  how  closely  they  were  associated,  insomuch 
that  the  acts  and  words  of  the  one  may  almost  be  regarded  as  the 
acts  and  words  of  the  other.  With  solemn  prayer,  Matthias  was 
chosen  to  fill  the  place  "from  which  Judas  by  transgression  fell,  that  he 
might  go  to  his  own  place."  1 

Fifty  days  after  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  ten  days  after  His  as- 
•cension,  something  very  wonderful  occurred  in  the  temple  at  Jeru- 
salem. The  city  was  full  of  people.  There  were  assembled  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Jews  who  had  settled  among  the  different  nations  of 
the  earth.  They  were  men  of  a  serious  or  devout  class,  who  had  come 
to  be  present  at  Jerusalem  on  the  occasion  of  a  great  religious  festival. 
Some  had  come  from  the  regions  adjacent  to  the  Caspian  Sea,  and 
from  the  borders  of  the  ancient  Persian  empire ;  others  from  the 
countries  lying  between  the  rivers  Tigris  and  Euphrates ;  others  from 
the  shores  of  the  .^Egean  Sea ;  others  came  from  Arabia  ;  others  from 
Africa;  and  others  still  from  Rome,  the  capital  of  the  world.2  The 
festival  they  had  come  to  attend  occurred  at  the  end  of  seven  weeks, 
or  a  week  of  weeks,  from  the  second  day  of  the  Passover,  and  hence 
was  called  the  feast  of  weeks.  In  the  time  of  the  apostles,  it  had 

1  Acts  i.  24-26.     The  view  has  been  advocated  by  Stier  and  others,  that  Paul 
was  the  true  twelfth  apostle,  and  that  the  appointment  of  Matthias  was  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  will  of  God.     The  circumstance  that  the  labours  of   Matthias  as  an 
apostle  are  not  mentioned  no  more  proves  that  he  was  not  an  apostle,  than  the 
silence  in  respect  to  several  of  the  twelve  proves  that  they  were  not  apostles.    Paul 
never  claimed  that  he  was  one  of  the  twelve,  but  makes  a  distinction  between 
them  and  himself,  as  in  1  Cor.  xv.  5.      Matthias  must  have  been,  according  to 
what  is  implied  in  Peter's  address,  a  constant  attendant  of  Christ  from  the  begin- 
ing  to  His  resurrection  and  ascension.      Some  have  conjectured  that  he  was  one  of 
the  seventy  disciples  sent  forth  by  Jesus,  and  there  is  nothing  unreasonable  in  the 
suggestion. 

2  Even  Judaea  is  introduced  into  this  catalogue  of  foreign  names.     Olshausen 
adduces  the  circumstance  that  St.  Luke,  writing  probably  from  Kome,  considered 
the  geographical  position  of  Judasa  from  the  point  of  view  at  Kome,  rather  than 
Jerusalem.     Bengel  and  Meyer  account  for  its  insertion  from  the  fact  that  the 
dialect  of  Galilee  was  different  from  that  of  Judaaa,  and  this  dialect  was  that  of 
the  speaker. 


PENTECOST.  125 

received  the  name  of  Pentecost,  or  fiftieth ;  i.e.,  it  was  the  feast  of  the 
fiftieth  day  after  the  second  day  of  the  Passover.  According  to  a 
tradition  of  the  Jews,  it  commemorated  the  giving  of  the  law  on 
Sinai  with  fire  from  heaven.  They  had  come  to  worship  the  God  of 
their  fathers  in  the  capital  of  their  nation.  Probably  they  had  been 
present  at  the  preceding  Passover,  and  had  remained,  or  had  been 
"dwelling,"  at  Jerusalem  in  the  meantime.  It  may  have  been  the 
first  occasion  on  which  some  of  this  host  of  pilgrims  had  visited  the 
holy  city.  It  was  to  be  ever  memorable  to  thousands  of  them,  and  in 
the  history  of  the  Church  and  the  world. 

And  when  the  day  of  Pentecost  was  fully  come,  the  disciples  were 
all,  with  the  same  delightful  accord,  or  union,  in  one  place.1  The 
place  probably  was  the  temple,  to  which  the  apostles,  since  the  ascen- 
sion, had  been  in  the  habit  of  daily  resorting  for  praising  and  blessing 
God.  They  knew  the  relation  which  this  great  festival  had  to  the 
giving  of  the  law  by  Moses ;  and  the  public  ceremonials  would  not 
only  draw  them,  but  lead  them  to  protract  their  stay  at  the  temple ; 
so  that  the  place  in  which  they  were  gathered  was  most  probably  one 
of  the  oratories,  or  stoas,  which  occupied  the  upper  range  of  the  inner 
court  of  the  temple.  They  were  full  of  expectation,  awaiting  the 
advent  of  the  promised  Comforter  from  the  Father.  To  the  great 
mass  of  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  and  to  the  throng  of  strangers, 
they  were  unnoticed  and  unknown ;  or,  if  not  altogether  unknown, 
they  were  regarded  as  of  very  little  account. 

Suddenly,2  there  came  a  sound  from  heaven  as  of  a  rushing  mighty 
wind,  which  filled  the  apartment,  and  lambent  flames,  like  tongues  of 
fire,  playing  around,  lighted  upon  each  of  them.  Now  were  fulfilled 
the  words  of  their  great  Master.  The  Comforter  had  come.  The 
awful  rush  as  of  that  mighty  wind  and  the  tongues  of  fire  were  the 
sensible  signs,  addressed  to  their  eyes  and  ears,  of  the  presence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  The  old  law  on  Mount  Sinai  was  given  amid  darkness, 
tempest,  and  fire,  and  thunders,  which  shook  the  mountain ;  and  now 
as  the  Church  was  about  to  be  reorganized,  on  the  basis  of  a  new  and 
better  covenant,  this  assembly,  representing  the  body  of  believers,  hear 
the  sound  as  of  a  mighty  breathing  about  them,  and  see  the  flashing  of 
flames,  which  in  the  shape  of  tongues  alight  on  each  of  them.  These 

1  Acts  ii. 

2  "AQvu,  unexpectedly.      The  disciples  were  not  looking  for  anything  so  extra- 
ordinary.   It  is  not  said  that  a  wind  or  tempest  accompanied  the  manifestation,  but 
that  there  was  ^xos,  a  sound  as  of  a  mighty  rushing  wind  or  breathing,  irt>orjs. 
The  common  impression  that  the  tongues  were  divided  into  two  or  more  is  not 
sustained  by  the  original,  as  the  word  dia^epi^ofj-foi  means  distributed  ;  i.e.,  the 
pointed  tongue-like  flames  were  distributed  upon  each  of  them. 


126  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF    ST.  JOHN. 

external  sensible  signs  of  spiritual  influence  were  followed  by  the  in- 
fluence itself :  "  they  were  all  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  began  to 
speak  with  other  tongues,  as  the  Spirit  gave  them  utterance."  Their 
speaking  in  languages  different  from  their  own,  and  previously  un- 
known, was  miraculous,  and  another  sign  of  the  presence  of  a  Divine 
power.  The  design  of  this  gift  was  not  merely  to  facilitate  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel ;  it  served,  like  any  other  miracle,  but  with  a 
special  propriety  and  force,  to  prove  the  reality  of  an  extraordinary 
spiritual  influence.  "  And  it  served  as  a  symbol  to  prefigure  the  voca- 
tion of  the  Gentiles,  whose  exclusion  from  the  Church,  or  chosen 
people,  had  been  typified  of  old  by  a  corresponding  prodigy,  the 
miraculous  confusion  of  tongues  at  Babel.  As  the  moral  unity  of 
mankind  had  been  then  lost,  it  was  now  to  be  restored  by  the  preach- 
ing of  the  gospel  to  all  nations."  l 

The  body  of  the  disciples,  on  whom  the  tongues  of  flame  were 
sitting,  and  who  were  speaking  with  other  tongues,  so  that  the  multi- 
tude, composed  as  it  was  of  men  speaking  so  many  different  lan- 
guages,2 heard  them  speak  every  man  in  his  own  language,  became  of 
course  at  once  the  centre  of  attraction.  They  were  filled  with 
astonishment,  as  well  they  might  be,  when  they  heard  these  Galileans 
address  them  every  man  in  his  own  tongue,  wherein  he  was  born. 
There  was  a  general  exclamation,  "  What  meaneth  this  ?  "  But  some 
tried  to  make  light  of  it,  and  said,  "  These  men  are  full  of  new 
wine." 3  But  Peter,  with  the  eleven,  stood  up,  and  addressing  the 
multitude,  showed  them  that  what  had  occurred  was  the  fulfilment 
of  a  signal  prophecy  of  Joel,  and  demonstrated,  in  a  discourse  of 
great  power,  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus.  The  hundred  and  twenty, 
who  appear  to  have  shared  in  the  gift  of  tongues,  scattered  among 
the  crowd,  probably  acted  as  interpreters,  so  that  every  man  might  be 
able  to  understand  the  purport  of  the  discourse.  Or  the  meaning 
may  be,  that  in  whatever  language  Peter  spoke,  every  man  heard  him 

1  Alexander  on  Acts,  in  loco. 

2  To  say  that  they  only  preached  and  prayed  with  a  flow  of  language,  and  fervour 
entirely  new  to  them,  or  that  their  tongues  "  now  became  the  organs  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  "  (Baumgarten),  is  inconsistent  with  the  following  narrative,  where  men 
from  distant  countries  are  represented  as  hearing  every  man  in  his  own  tongue, 
wherein  he  was  born.      Bloomfield  well  remarks  that  there  is  no  phraseology  in 
Pindar  himself  more  lyrical  than  the  high-wrought  figure  thus  ascribed  to  a  plain 
prose  narration. 

3  rXej//cous,  sweet,  rather  than  new-made,  wine.      It  denotes  a  fermented  wine  in 
which  the  sweetness  was  retained.     The  word  is  used  in  the  Sept.  version  (Job 
xxxii.  19)  for  the  common  Hebrew  word  for  wine,  where  the  reference  to  fermenta- 
tion is  essential  to  the  meaning.      Athenaeus,  a  physician  and  voluminous  writer, 
supposed  to  have  lived  in  the  first  century  after  Christ,  uses  the  word  in  the  same 
sense.     See  Kob.  Lex.  N.  T. 


THE    GATE   BEAUTIFUL.  127 

in  his  own.  Three  thousand  were  converted.  "  They  joined  themselves 
to  the  company  of  Christ's  disciples,  and  continued  steadfastly  in  the 
apostles'  doctrine  and  fellowship,  and  in  breaking  of  bread,  and  in 
prayers."  Opposition,  for  a  time  at  least,  seems  to  have  ceased, 
and  awe  to  have  fallen  on  all  minds.  The  good  work  went  on  ; 
many  signs  and  wonders  were  done  by  the  apostles  ;  and  the 
Lord  added  to  the  Church  daily  such  as  should  be  saved.  St. 
John  no  doubt  shared  largely  in  the  work  and  joy  of  this  blessed 
season,  —  this  great  introductory  work  of  the  dispensation  of  the 
Spirit.  How  suited  to  his  zealous  mind,  his  loving  heart  !  He  now 
understood  the  words  of  Scripture,  and  the  words  of  Jesus,  as  they 
were  marvellously  brought  to  his  recollection.  His  mind  was  en- 
lightened, and  his  soul  fired  with  love,  as  never  before'.  He  shared  in 
that  blessed  experience,  when  the  infant  Church,  notwithstanding  its 
sudden  increase,  by  those  who  were  from  so  many  different  nations, 
had  that  unity  of  feeling  and  affection,  that  it  seemed  to  constitute 
but  one  family,  with  identity  of  interest  and  even  possessions.  "  And 
they  continuing  daily  with  one  accord  in  the  temple,  and  breaking 
bread,  from  house  to  house,  did  eat  their  meat  with  gladness  and 
singleness  of  heart,  praising  God,  and  having  favour  with  all  the 
people."  Happy  John  !  happy  disciples  all  !  who  had  followed  Jesus, 
despite  the  ignominy  of  His  cross,  permitted  to  see  a  day  like  this  ! 

We  next  see  John  associated  with  Peter  in  the  performance  of  a 
miracle,  which  was  the  occasion  of  the  beginning  of  opposition  to  the 
Christian  Church,  or  that  pressure  from  without  which  seems  to  have 
been  necessary,  or  at  least  was  overruled,  as  one  of  the  providential 
causes  for  the  spread  of  the  new  religion.  As  these  two  apostles  were 
going  up  together  to  the  temple  at  the  hour  of  prayer,  the  third  stated 
hour,  being  the  ninth  hour  of  the  day,  corresponding  to  our  three 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  the  same  being  the  hour  of  evening  sacrifice, 
a  certain  man,  who  had  been  lame  from  his  birth,  and  was  now  above 
forty  years  old,  was  lying  at  the  gate  of  the  temple,  at  which  they 
were  about  to  enter.  It  seems  that  his  friends  were  in  the  habit  of 
placing  him  in  this,  one  of  the  most  frequented  localities,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  soliciting  alms.  Of  course  he  was  well  known  to  those  visiting 
the  temple  at  this  favourite  entrance,  called  the  Beautiful  Gate.1 
As  Peter  and  John  approached,  the  lame  man  asked  alms.  They  fixed 


1  As  wpa  topically  has  the  sense  of  bloom,  or  beauty,  as  of  youth,  'ot 
applied  to  gate,  means  "beautiful,"  although  its  primary  sense  is  timely  or  season- 
able (Acts  iii.  2).  It  is  not  certainly  known  what  gate  is  meant,  but  probably  one 
of  the  external  gates  leading  from  without  into  the  area  of  the  temple,  or  court 
of  the  Gentiles,  on  the  east  side  of  which  was  Solomon's  porch.  It  was  so  called, 
as  we  may  presume,  from  its  architectural  decorations.  See  Biblioth.  Sac.  ,  1843, 
p.  19,  *eg.,and  Biblioth.  Sac.,  1846,  p.  626  ;  and  Kobinson's  Lex.  of  N.  T, 


128  THE    LIFE   AND    WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

their  eyes  on  him,  and  said  "  Look  on  us."  They  told  him  they  had 
no  silver  or  gold  to  give  him,  but  that  they  would  give  him,  or  do 
for  him,  what  was  in  their  power.  Immediately  they  commanded  him, 
in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  the  Nazarene,  to  rise  and  walk.  With  the 
word  they  raised  him  up,  and  his  feet  and  ankle-bones  received 
strength ;  and  he,  leaping  up,  stood  and  walked,  and  entered  with 
them  into  the  temple,  walking  and  leaping  and  praising  God.  All  the 
people  saw  him,  and  as  they  knew  it  was  he  whom  they  had  been  in 
the  habit  of  seeing  lying  hopelessly  lame  at  the  Beautiful  Gate,  they 
came  running  together,  greatly  wondering.  St.  Peter  made  it  the 
occasion  of  another  powerful  and  solemn  discourse,  in  which  he 
charged  home  upon  them  the  guilt  of  crucifying  the  Lord  of  glory, 
to  the  evidence  of  whose  Divinity  he  points  in  the  miracle  which  had 
just  been  wrought  in  His  name.  He  calls  on  them  to  repent,  and  pro- 
claims the  second  glorious  coming  of  Christ  to  judge  the  world. 

The  indignation  of  the  Jewish  rulers,  especially  of  the  Sadducees, 
because  of  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  which  they 
preached  through  Jesus,  was  aroused,  and  Peter  and  John  were 
arrested  and  cast  into  prison.  But  the  good  work  of  conversion  went 
on ;  the  number  of  believers  was  increased  to  about  five  thousand. 
The  next  day  they  were  arraigned  before  the  high-priest,  and  being 
asked  by  what  power  or  by  what  name  they  had  done  this,  Peter,  that 
same  Peter  who  had  acted  so  cowardly  at  first,  when  his  Master  was 
standing  at  the  bar  of  the  same  high-priest,  used  the  occasion  for  a 
faithful  discourse,  in  which  he  told  his  hearers  that  there  was  none 
other  name  under  heaven,  given  among  men,  whereby  we  must  be 
saved,  but  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  the  man  who  stood 
before  them  had  been  made  whole.  There  the  man  stood,  and  they 
could  not  deny  that  a  miracle  had  been  wrought.  They  knew  not 
what  to  do.  But  after  conferring  privately,  they  commanded  them  that 
they  should  not  preach  any  more  in  the  name  of  Jesus.  The  high- 
priest  was  acquainted  with  John,  and  perhaps  they  thought  his 
authority  would  be  sufficient  to  restrain  these  men.  But  Peter  and 
John  said,  "  Whether  it  be  right  in  the  sight  of  God  to  hearken  unto 
you  more  than  unto  God,  judge  ye.  For  we  cannot  but  speak  the 
things  which  we  have  seen  and  heard."  They  threatened  them 
further,  but  were  compelled  to  discharge  them.1  The  report  among 

1  It  is  said  that  they  "  perceived  that  they  were  unlearned  and  ignorant  men," 
dypa/jL/j-aroi  etVi  Kal  ukwrcu  (Acts  iv.  13).  The  Greek  root  ypd^ara  means  more  than 
mere  letters  in  the  sense  of  alphabetical  characters :  to  wit,  letters  in  the  higher 
sense  of  literature,  learning.  They  were  but  slightly  versed  in  the  rabbinical  learn- 
ing,  so  prized  among  the  Jews,  or  in  that  science  which  was  imparted  by  the  higher 
education.  'IStcDrcu  is  rendered  by  Tyndale,  lay -people ;  by  Cranmer,  laymen. 
The  best  sense  is  that  they  were  private  individuals,  unofficial  persons. 


THE    FIRST    MARTYR.  129 

the  disciples  of  what  had  taken  place  was  followed  by  a  most  remark- 
able season  of  worship.1  The  place  was  shaken  where  they  were 
assembled,  and  they  were  all  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  preached 
the  word  of  God  with  boldness. 

Thus  the  blessed  work  went  on.  Signs  and  wonders  continued  to  be 
wrought  by  the  hands  of  the  apostles,  and  believers  were  the  more 
added  to  the  Lord,  multitudes,  both  men  and  women.  Again  was  the 
indignation  of  the  high-priest  and  the  Sadducees  aroused.  The  entire 
body  of  the  apostles  appear  now  to  have  been  seized  and  put  into  the 
common  prison.2  This  was  the  second  time  John  had  been  called  to 
endure  this  form  of  persecution,  and  it  was  not  to  be  the  last.  But 
the  angel  of  the  Lord  by  night  opened  the  prison  doors,  and  brought 
them  forth,  and  directed  them  to  go  to  the  temple  and  preach.  There 
the  officers  found  them  the  next  day,  when  the  great  council  had 
come  together  and  ordered  them  to  be  produced.  The  apostles  con- 
sented to  appear,  and  addressed  the  Sanhedrin  in  a  pungent  and  faith- 
ful manner,  and  would  have  been  put  to  death  had  it  not  been  for  the 
advice  of  the  celebrated  Gamaliel.  They  were  beaten,  commanded  not 
to  speak  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  discharged.  They  left  the  presence 
of  their  persecutors,  "rejoicing  that  they  were  counted  worthy  to  suffer 
shame  for  His  name.  And  daily  in  the  temple,  and  in  every  house, 
they  ceased  not  to  teach  and  preach  Jesus  Christ." 

But  former  persecutions  were  greatly  exceeded  by  one  that  arose 
soon  after  the  seven  had  been  appointed  to  relieve  the  apostles  in  the 
daily  ministrations.3  One  of  their  number,  Stephen,  a  man  full  of 
faith  and  power,  "  did  great  wonders  and  miracles  among  the  people."  4 
A  large  number  of  the  priests,  as  well  as  of  the  common  people,  were 
obedient  to  the  Christian  faith.  He  argued  with  such  power  that  the 
representatives  of  the  synagogues,  Jews  of  distinction,  from  Alexandria 
and  Asia  Minor,  could  not  stand  before  him.  But  if  they  could  not 
withstand  his  reasonings,  they  could  destroy  him.  They  therefore 
suborned  men  to  bring  against  him  the  charge  of  blasphemy.  Arrested, 
he  was  brought  before  the  Sanhedrin,  where  his  face  was  seen  as  it 
had  been  the  face  of  an  angel,5  and  where  he  delivered  a  discourse  of 
great  eloquence  and  power.  But  they  gnashed  on  him  with  their 
teeth ;  and  when,  looking  up  into  heaven,  he  cried,  "  Behold,  I  see  the 

1  Acts  iv.  31. 

2  Acts  v.  18,  iv  T^p-fjffei  5r7/u><7/9,  "in  a  public  prison."     The  primary  meaning  of 
T-rip-rja-Ls  is  a  watching,  keeping.    We  have  a  classical  example  of  this  word  meaning 
prison,  Thucyd.,  7,  86. 

3  Acts  vi.  1. 

4  Acts  vi.  8. 

5  Acts  vi.  9-15.   It  had  perhaps  a  supernatural  glow  and  brightness  (Exod.  xxxiv. 
29),  or  an  appearance  superhuman  and  celestial. 

K 


130  THE    LIFE   AND    WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

heavens  opened,  and  the  Son  of  man  standing  on  the  right  hand  of 
God,"  they  ran  upon  him  with  one  accord,  cast  him  out  of  the  city, 
and  stoned  him.  The  foreign  Jews,  who  took  the  lead  in  bringing 
the  accusation,  probably  took  the  lead  in  stoning  Stephen.  They  do 
not  appear  to  have  waited  for  any  sentence  from  the  Sanhedrin  ;  but 
the  members  of  that  council,  moreover,  do  not  appear  to  have  made 
any  attempt  to  restrain  them ;  too  willing  perhaps,  as  the  power  of 
inflicting  death  had  been  taken  away  from  them  by  the  Romans,  to 
have  him  destroyed  in  a  way  which  would  not  involve  them  or  the 
Jews  of  Jerusalem  in  difficulty  with  the  procurator.  It  is  not 
necessary,  therefore,  to  suppose  that  the  procurator  was  absent,  or  the 
office  for  the  time  vacant,  but  only  that  this  outrage  was  committed  by 
those  who  were  strangers  at  Jerusalem,  and  could  not  easily  be  found 
or  identified.1 

One  of  these  foreign  Jews  was  from  Cilicia,  from  Tarsus,  its  capital. 
He  now  becomes  the  leader,  although  but  a  young  man,  or  occupies  a 
most  conspicuous  position.  And  yet  he  was  to  become  one  of  the 
most  conspicuous  leaders  in  the  Christian  church.  "  And  the  wit- 
nesses [the  men  who  had  charged  Stephen  with  blasphemy]  laid  down 
their  clothes  at  a  young  man's  feet,  whose  name  was  Saul."  And  it 
was  under  his  direction  that  this,  the  first  great  persecution,  was  con- 
tinued until  the  disciples  of  Christ  were  scattered  in  every  quarter 
from  Jerusalem,  and  were  persecuted  even  unto  strange  cities.  John 
little  anticipated  the  time  when  the  fierce  persecutor  would  take  him 
by  the  hand,  and  greet  him  as  a  brother  beloved.  His  zeal  in  con- 
ducting the  persecution  knew  no  bounds.  He  made  havoc  of  the 
Church,  invading  houses,  and  dragging  men  and  women  to  prison. 
He  breathed  out  threatening  and  slaughter  against  the  disciples  of  the 
Lord.  He  went  to  the  high-priest,  and  obtained  letters  empowering 
him  to  pursue  those  who  had  fled  and  bring  them  back  to  Jerusalem. 
He  says  he  verily  thought  he  ought  to  do  many  things  contrary  to  the 
name  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.2  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  however 
wrongfully  he  acted  (and  no  one  regarded  his  conduct  as  more  sinful 
than  he  himself  subsequently),  he  acted  conscientiously.  After  his 
conversion  he  seems  to  have  regarded  his  course  with  the  deepest 
shame  and  humiliation.  "  I  persecuted  this  way  unto  the  death, 
binding  and  delivering  into  prison  both  men  and  women ;  and  when 
they  were  put  to  death,  I  gave  my  voice  against  them.  And  I 
punished  them  oft  in  every  synagogue,  and  compelled  them  to 

1  Commentators  have  generally  overlooked  the  fact  that  the  martyrdom  of  Stephen 
was  at  the  hands   of    these  foreign  Jews,  acting  in  a   lawless  and  tumultuous 
manner.      It  is  too  much  to  believe  that  the  dignified  Gamaliel  and  his  associates 
would  have  thus  rushed  on  a  prisoner  standing  at  their  bar. 

2  Acts  xxyi.  9. 


SIMON   MAGUS.  131 

blaspheme."     Three  times  mention  is  made  of  the  fact  that  women  as 
well  as  men  were  the  objects  of  his  cruelty.1 

Again  we  find  these  two  men,  Peter  and  John  (who  were  so  unlike 
in  character,  yet  were  on  such  intimate  terms),  together  on  a  most  in- 
teresting and  important  occasion.  When  the  disciples  were  scattered 
abroad  by  the  persecution  that  arose  at  the  death  of  Stephen,2  Philip 
went  down  and  preached  at  Samaria;  and  there  was  a  great  move- 
ment in  that  city,  and  great  joy  was  the  fruit  of  it.3  When  the 
apostles  at  Jerusalem  heard  of  it,  they  deputed  Peter  and  John,  who, 
taking  the  familiar  road  towards  their  native  region,  came  to  Samaria  and 
prayed  for  the  Samaritans,  and  laid  their  hands  on  them  that  they  might 
receive  the  Holy  Ghost.  It  was  on  this  occasion  they  were  thrown 
in  contact  with  the  well  known  sorcerer,  Simon  Magus,  who  fills  so 
large  a  place  in  primitive  ecclesiastical  history,  who  sought  with  money 
to  purchase  the  power  of  conferring  the  Holy  Ghost.  His  doctrines 
were  substantially  those  of  the  Gnostics,  with  which  John  was  to  have 
so  much  to  do  in  his  later  life,  after  he  had  taken  up  his  abode  at 
Ephesus.4  In  the  Ephesian  opponents  to  Christianity  we  observe  the 
same  combination  of  gnosis  and  demonistic  sorceries  which  Simon, 
not  without  reason,  is  charged  with  being  the  first  to  attempt  to 
engraft  on  Christianity.  On  the  return  of  Peter  and  John  to  Jeru- 
salem, they  preached  in  many  villages  of  the  Samaritans.  It  is  a 
pleasing  thought  that  John  may  have  preached  the  gospel  of  peace  and 

1  Acts  viii.  3,  ix.  2,  xxii.  4,  xxvi.  10, 11 ;  1  Tim.  i.  13-15.     In  that  admirable  work, 
"  The  Life  and  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,"  by  the  late  Kev.  W.  J.  Conybeare,  M.A.,  and 
Dean  Howson,  the  early  life  of  the  apostle  is  sketched  with  graphic  and  lifelike  power. 
We  see  the  boy,  Saul,  in  his  earliest  development  in  his  father's  house  at  Tarsus ; 
we  see  him  at  the  school  of  the  synagogue ;   we  see  him  in  his  student  life  in 
Jerusalem,  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel ;  we  see  him  at  his  introduction  into  Christian 
history,  at  the  martyrdom  of  Stephen.    It  is  the  beginning  of  what  is  in  fact  a 
living  picture  of  the  apostle. 

2  All  except  the  apostles  were  driven  from  Jerusalem  ;  i.e.,  all  who  were  in  any 
office  or  work  which  made  them  prominent,  or  known  to  the  persecutors.     It  is 
possible    the  .miracles  the    apostles  performed    may  have  caused  them    to  be 
regarded  with  an  awe  which  for  a  time  gave  them  security.     They  were  protected 
by  the  special  providence  of  God,  as  there  were  reasons  connected  with  the  organ- 
ization of  the  Church  which  rendered  it  important  they  should  remain  at   Jeru- 
salem.    The  apostle  John  was  of  course  a  deeply  interested  witness  of  this  great 
persecution,  and  joined 'in  the  mourning  occasioned  by  the  martyrdom  of  Stephen, 
that  man  "  full  of  grace  and  power." 

3  Acts  viii.  4  seq.     This  was  not  Philip  the  apostle,  but  Philip,  one  of  the  seven  ; 
Acts  vi.  5  ;  afterwards  spoken  of  as  an  evangelist,  xxi.  8. 

4  Neander  and   Gieseler  conjecture  that   Simon  Magus  was  the   same  whom 
Josephus  mentions  (Antiq.,  xx.,  7  [2]) ;  who  was  by  birth  a  Cypriot,  and  who  pre- 
tended to  be  a  magician.     But  the  Simon  mentioned  in  the  Acts  was  a  Samaritan, 
as  the  Apostolical  Constitutions,  vi.  7,  and  Justin  Martyr,  himself  born  in  Samaria 
(Apology,  i.  34),  inform  us. 


132  THE    LIFE  AND   WRITINGS   OP   ST.  JOHN. 

love,  and  been  made  the  instrument  of  salvation,  in  that  very  village 
on  which  he  once  sought  permission  to  call  down  fire  of  heaven.1 
Wonderful  are  the  ways  and  works  of  providence  and  grace  ! 

Years  pass  away.  The  reign  of  Tiberius,  who  was  emperor  at  the 
time  of  the  crucifixion,  has  closed.  He  was  the  successor  of  Augustus, 
born  42  B.C.  His  mother,  Livia,  married  Augustus,  who  adopted 
him  as  his  teir  and  successor.  From  his  youth  he  was  melancholy 
and  reserved,  and  apparently  without  sympathies  and  affections. 
He  was  by  nature  cruel  and  revengeful ;  and  power  gave  him  the 
opportunity  of  gratifying  his  malignant  passions.2  His  reign  was  in 
sad  contrast  with  that  of  Augustus.  He  was  not  less  than  fifty-six 
years  of  age  when  he  ascended  the  throne.  At  length,  in  the  year 
26  from  the  birth  of  Christ,  he  retired  from  Rome  to  Capreae,  that  he 
might  indulge  his  sensual  propensities  in  private  with  less  restraint.3 
He  never  again  passed  within,  although  he  sometimes  approached,  the 
walls  of  Rome.  From  his  luxurious  retreat  in  Capreas  he  issued  his 
decrees.  Suetonius  and  Tacitus  record  the  murders  committed  in  com- 
pliance with  the  imperial  edicts.  The  wealthy  inhabitants  of  Spain, 
Gaul,  and  Greece  were  condemned  to  death  for  mere  trifles,  that  their 
confiscated  estates  might  go  to  augment  his  exchequer.  At  the  age  of 
nearly  eighty,  A.D.  37,  he  died;  his  death,  it  is  said,  having  been  has- 
tened by  the  hands  of  a  freedman.  He  was  on  the  throne  when  John 
the  Baptist  appeared  in  the  wilderness  of  Judasa  preaching,  and  Jesus 
Christ  entered  on  His  public  ministry.  He  was  the  man  to  whom  the 
Jews  referred,  when  they  said  to  Pilate,  "  If  thou  let  this  man  go,  thou 
art  not  Ceesar's  friend."  He  had  several  years  yet  to  reign,  when 
Jesus  expired  on  the  cross  and  accomplished  His  Divine  mission.  He 
was  on  the  throne  at  the  time  of  Pentecost,  and  of  the  martyrdom  of 
Stephen,  and  of  the  conversion  of  Saul  of  Tarsus. 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  nephew-  Caligula,  whose  real  name  was 
Caius  Caasar,  the  youngest  son  of  Germanicus,  born  A.D.  12.  The 
beginning  of  his  reign  was  distinguished  for  mildness  and  great 
generosity ;  but  a  severe  malady,  which  seized  him  at  the  end  of  the 
first  year,  it  is  supposed  disordered  his  intellect ;  as  his  fearful  ex- 
cesses appear  rather  as  the  acts  of  a  madman  than  of  a  reasonable 
being.4  He  raised  his  wife  and  his  horse  to  the  consulate,  and  fed 
his  wild  beasts  with  the  bodies  of  citizens  and  captives.  With  the 
number  of  his  victims  his  thirst  for  blood  seemed  to  increase,  and 
murdering  to  become  with  him  a  matter  of  pleasure  and  amusement. 

1  Luke  ix.  54. 

2  Tacitus,  Ann.,  i.  80 ;  Suet.,  Tib.,  c.  28,  c.  57,  and  c.  60  ;  DionCass.,  Iviii.  2. 

3  Tacitus,  Ann.,  iv.  57. 

4  Tacitus,  Ann.  vi. ;  Suet.,  Calig. ;  Dion  Cass.,  lix. ;  Jos.  Antiq.,  xix.  1. 


CALIGULA. 


THE    EMPEROR   CLAUDIUS.  133 

His  voluptuousness  and  obscenity  were  equal  to  his  cruelty.  He 
squandered  almost  incredible  sums  of  money.  He  fell  the  victim  of  a 
violent  death,  at  the  hands  of  conspirators,  A.D.  41,  when  he  was 
scarcely  thirty  years  of  age ;  and  the  four  years  of  vice,  folly,  and 
cruelty  that  distinguished  his  reign  had  just  come  to  an  end  at  the 
point  now  reached  in  the  history  of  the  apostle  John. 

The  accession  of  Caligula  was  of  the  greatest  importance  to  a  man 
whose  name  stands  connected  with  an  event  recorded  in  the  apostolical 
history  (which  event  was  of  the  deepest  interest  to  St.  John).  Agrippa 
was  the  son  of  Aristobulus,  one  of  the  two  unfortunate  sons  of 
Herod  the  Great  by  Mariamne.  His  early  life  had  been  but  little  else 
than  a  continued  series  of  adventures  and  vicissitudes.  He  inherited 
the  prodigality  without  the  wealth  of  the  Herodian  race.  On  the 
death  of  his  mother,  Berenice,  he  speedily  wasted  his  estate  in  lavish 
expenditure,  and  found  himself  overwhelmed  with  debts.  He  sought  to 
hide  himself  away  in  an  insignificant  village  in  his  native  Idumea.  He 
next  became  a  pensioner  of  Herod  Antipas,  whose  incestuous  wife, 
Herodias,  was  his  sister.  But  soon  withdrawing  from  Galilee,  we 
find  him  leaving  Antioch  in  disgrace,  and  retiring  to  Ptolemais  in  the 
deepest  indigence,  with  scarcely  any  other  friend  than  Cypros,  his  affec- 
tionate, noble  wife.  He  at  length  succeeded  in  effecting  a  loan  from  a 
freed  slave  of  his  mother,  by  the  aid  of  which  he  once  more  reached 
Rome.  His  debts  still  oppressed  him.  Antonia,  the  faithful  friend  of 
his  mother,  lent  him  a  sum  sufficient  to  discharge  his  debt  to  the  im- 
perial treasury.  But  preferring  to  attach  his  fortunes  to  those  of  Caius 
Caligula  rather  than  those  of  the  grandson  of  the  emperor,  he  was 
cast  into  prison,  where  he  remained  till  Caligula  came  to  the  throne.1 
On  his  liberation  he  was  received  at  court,  and  had  conferred  on 
him  the  vacant  tetrarchate  of  Philip,  with  the  title  of  king,  to  which 
soon  after  were  added  the  dominions  of  his  brother-in-law,  Herod 
Antipas,  who  had  been  banished  in  disgrace  to  Lyons,  in  Gaul. 

The  presidentship  over  Syria  of  Publius  Petronius,  a  man  who  ap- 
pears to  have  been  of  as  upright  a  character  as  paganism  was  capable 
of  producing,  had  also  come  to  an  end.2  Some  ten  or  twelve  years  had 
elapsed  since  Pentecost.  Claudius  was  now  emperor,  having  suc- 
ceeded Caligula  on  the  throne  at  the  age  of  fifty.  He  is  said  to  have 
been  a  man,  although  not  of  strong  intellect,  of  great  industry  and 
diligence,  who  devoted,  both  before  and  after  his  accession,  a  great 
part  of  his  time  to  literary  pursuits.  He  was  raised  to  the  imperial 
throne,  contrary  to  the  wishes  of  the  senate,  by  the  praetorian  guard. 
The  first  act  of  his  government  was  to  proclaim  an  amnesty,  and  a  few 

1  Dion  Cass.,  Ix.  8 ;  Jos.  Antiq.,  xvii.,  xviii.,  xix.     Wars,  i.,  xxviii.  (1). 

2  Jos.  Ant.,  xviii.  8;  Philo,  De  Legatione ;  Tacitus,  Ann.,  xlix.  6,45. 


THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

only  of  the  murderers  of  his  predecessor  were  put  to  death.  He 
repealed  Caligula's  foolish  and  cruel  edicts,  and  his  government  is  said 
to  have  been  mild  and  popular.1  To  him  belongs  the  credit  of  having 
abolished  in  Gaul  the  blood-stained  religion  of  the  Druids.  It  was 
during  his  reign  that  the  southern  part  of  Britain  was  constituted  a 
Roman  province,  and  the  apostle  Paul  made  his  second  and  third  visits 
to  Jerusalem  after  his  conversion,  and  his  first  missionary  journey.  It 
is  related  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  2  that  it  was  in  consequence  of  an 
edict  of  Claudius,  expelling  the  Jews  from  Borne,  a  Jew  named  Aquila, 
born  in  Pontus,  and  his  wife  Priscilla,  had  come  to  Corinth,  where 
Paul  found  them.  They  were  Christians.  Suetonius  relates  that 
Claudius  required  the  Jews  to  leave  Rome,  because  they  were  con- 
tinually making  disturbance,  under  the  influence  of  one  "  Chrestus." 
The  reference,  there  can  scarcely  be  a  doubt,  is  to  Christ 3  and  the 
doctrine  of  His  Messiahship,  thus  proving  that  there  were  Christians 
in  considerable  numbers  already  in  the  imperial  city  ;  the  heathen  not 
having  yet  learned  to  make  any  distinction  between  them  and  the 
Jews. 

It  was  during  the  reign  of  Claudius  that  an  event  occurred  which 
must  have  deeply  affected  John.  This  was  the  martyrdom  of  his  brother 
James  by  Herod4  (Agrippa  I.),  to  whose  dominions  Claudius,  at 
his  accession,  had  added  Judaaa,  so  that  he  found  himself,  A.D.  41, 
master  of  the  whole  of  Palestine,  the  kingdom  over  which  his  grand- 
father, Herod  the  Great,  had  borne  sway.  The  cause  of  the  slaying  of 
James  is  not  stated.  It  was  probably  done  at  the  instigation  of  the 
Jews.  It  crowned  him  as  the  apostolic  protomartyr.  It  must  have 
been  a  severe  blow  to  John.  It  struck  down  at  his  side  one  who  was 
kindred  in  spirit,  as  well  as  in  blood.  "  There  is  something  touching  in 
the  contrast  between  the  two  brothers,  James  and  John.  One  died  by 
the  sword  before  the  middle  of  the  first  century ;  the  other  lived  on 
till  its  close,  and  died  a  natural  death.  One  was  removed  just  when 
his  Master's  kingdom,  concerning  which  he  had  so  eagerly  inquired, 
was  beginning  to  show  its  real  character ;  he  probably  never  heard  the 
word  '  Christian '  pronounced.  The  other  remained  until  the  anti- 
Christian  enemies  of  the  faith  were  '  already  come,'  and  was  labouring 
against  them  when  his  brother  had  been  fifty  years  at  rest  in  the 
Lord."5 

There  is  but  one  other  occasion  mentioned  in  the  Acts  with  which 

1  Tacitus,  Ann.,  xi.  and  xii. ;  Suet.,  Claud. ;  Jos.  Antiq.,  xix.  2,  xx.  1. 

2  Acts  xviii.  2. 

3  Claud.,  25. 

4  Acts  xii.  1,  2. 

5  Conybeare  andHowson,  Life  and  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  i.,  p.  127. 


MEETING    OF   ST.    JOHN   AND    ST.    PAUL.  135 

we  connect  John.  In  the  early  Chnrch  some  of  the  Pharisees  "who 
believed  insisted  on  the  perpetual  obligation  of  circumcision  and  other 
Jewish  rites  and  practices.  One  of  the  earliest  appearances  of  this 
Jewish  party,  with  which  John  subsequently  had  so  much  to  do,  and  to 
which  there  are  so  many  distinct  allusions,  particularly  in  some  of  the 
earlier  of  his  writings,  was  at  Antioch,  where  Paul  and  Barnabas  were 
labouring  with  great  success.  It  was  one  of  the  most  celebrated  cities 
of  antiquity,  about  300  miles  north  of  Jerusalem,  on  the  banks  of 
the  Orontes,  thirty  miles  from  the  Mediterranean.  It  had  been  the 
metropolis  of  the  Syrian  kings,  and  was  the  capital  in  which  the 
governors  of  the  Roman  possessions  in  Asia  held  their  court.  It  was 
but  little  inferior  in  size  and  splendour  to  Alexandria,  ranking  third 
among  the  cities  of  the  empire.  It  was  here  that  the  disciples  of 
Christ  were  first  called  Christians.  St.  Paul  made  it  the  central  point 
for  the  diffusion  of  Christianity  among  the  Gentiles.  It  was  here  that 
certain  Judaizers  from  Jerusalem  appeared,  insisting  that  it  was 
necessary  that  Gentile  converts  should  be  circumcised.  The  dissension 
which  arose  led  Paul,  with  some  of  his  co-labourers,  to  visit  Jerusalem, 
and  ask  for  a  council  of  the  apostles  and  elders  to  consider  and  deter- 
mine the  question.  This  was  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  50.  We  have 
the  record  in  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  Acts.  The  decision  was  in  accord- 
ance with  the  views  of  St.  Paul.  Although  the  name  of  John  does  not 
appear  in  the  record  by  Luke  as  among  those  present,  it  is  honourably 
mentioned  by  Paul  himself,  when  referring  to  this  occasion  in  one  of 
his  epistles.1  It  is  his  testimony  that  John,  with  Peter  and  James 
(this  was  St.  James  the  Less,  the  son  of  Alphaeus,  not  the  brother  of 
John,  who  was  already  dead),  "seemed  to  be  pillars,"2  and  gave  to  him 
the  right  hand  of  fellowship. 

On  one  of  two  former  occasions,  when  St.  Paul  had  visited  Jerusalem 
since  his  conversion,  these  remarkable  men  (St.  Paul  and  St.  John) 
may  possibly  have  met ;  but  this  was  the  only  meeting  of  which  dis- 
tinct mention  is  made  in  Scripture.  The  mind,  therefore,  eagerly 
seizes  on  the  incident.  St.  Paul  fully  appreciated  the  character  of  his 
brother,  and  recognised  in  him  one  of  the  strong  and  beautiful  pillars 
of  the  house  of  God.  He  never  could  forget  his  cordial  grasp3  as  he 
departed  again  to  his  work  among  the  heathen.  The  incident  indeed 
is  very  expressive  and  significant.  St.  John  had  been  silent  in  the 
assembly  in  which  the  other  two  "pillars,"  Peter  and  James,  were  so 
conspicuous.  But  at  the  close  of  it  he  thus  expressed  his  hearty  union 
with  the  great  apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  in  his  opposition  to  the  Jewish 

1  Gal.  ii.  1-10. 

2  SrOXot,  sell. 


136  THE    LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

party,  and  in  the  work  of  spreading  the  gospel,  That  union  has  long- 
since  been  made  visible  to  all  ages.  St.  John  was  destined  to  become 
his  successor  in  the  care  of  the  very  churches  which  St.  Paul  had 
planted  and  nursed  with  so  much  care  among  the  Gentiles.  "They 
stand  together  among  the  pillars  of  the  holy  temple ;  and  the  Church 
of  God  is  thankful  to  learn  how  contemplation  may  be  united  with 
action,  and  faith  with  love,  in  the  spiritual  life."  1 

1  Conybeare  and  Howson,  i.,  p.  220. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

LATER  HISTORY  FROM  TRADITIONARY  SOURCES,  TILL  HIS 
ARRIVAL  AT  EPHESUS,  AND  BANISHMENT  TO  PATMOS. 

AUTHENTIC     TRADITIONS.  —  PARTHIAN      EMPIRE      AND      THE       EUPHRATES. 

GLORIOUS    CLIME. — SCENERY    OF   THE    APOCALYPSE    AND    OF    THE    BOOKS    OF 
DANIEL  AND  EZEKIEL  COMPARED. — JERUSALEM'S  TRIBULATION  APPROACHING. 

—  AGRIPPA     II. THE      ROMAN      GOVERNORS. — NERO.  —  FIRES      ROME. 

ACCUSES     AND     PERSECUTES     CHRISTIANS.  —  GESSIUS     FLORUS. —  VESPASIAN 
INVADES    JUDvEA.  —  TITUS. — ST.    JOHN     SEES    THE    "  SIGNS  "    FORETOLD    BY 

CHRIST.  —  SAILS      FOR       ASIA      MINOR.  —  SUPPOSED      REFLECTIONS. THE 

VOYAGE.  THE      MEDITERRANEAN.  —  CYPRUS.  —  RHODES.  —  CNIDUS. 

PATMOS. MILETUS.  —  HARBOUR    OF    EPHESUS. TEMPLE    OF     EPHESUS. — 

RECENT    DISCOVERY     OF     ITS     RUINS. NERONIAN     PERSECUTION     REACHES 

THE   APOSTLE. — BANISHED    TO    PATMOS. 

THE  last  occasion  on  which  St.  John  appears  in  the  New  Testament 
history  proper  was  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  50,  when  he  met  St.  Paul 
and  other  apostles  in  a  council  held  at  Jerusalem,  to  deliberate  and 
determine  on  the  subject  of  circumcision,  which  certain  Judaizing 
teachers  sought  to  have  continued  as  a  rite  in  the  Church.  In  following 
him  to  the  close  of  his  career,  we  have  to  make  our  way,  as  best  we 
can,  without  the  infallible  record  of  the  Scriptures  as  our  guide,  except 
as  those  parts  of  the  New  Testament  of  which  he  was  the  author  clearly 
connect  themselves  with  history,  and  take  their  place  as  authentic 
records  in  his  life.  In  other  words,  for  the  subsequent  portion  of  his 
life  we  are  left  to  his  own  writings,  and  to  ecclesiastical  tradition  or 
history. 

It  is  a  natural  and  laudable  curiosity,  in  the  receivers  of  that  faith 
to  which  the  apostles  devoted  their  lives,  to  know  something  more  than 
we  find  in  the  inspired  history  respecting  these  noble  witnesses  for 
the  truth,  and  especially  respecting  one  who  performed  so  important  a 
part,  and  lived  to  the  end  of  tbe  century,  to  the  middle  of  which  only 
we  have  been  able  by  that  history  to  trace  him.  As  he  lived  much 
longer  than  any  other  of  the  apostles,  and  was  personally  known  to  the 
generation  of  Christians  who  were  on  the  stage  at  the  beginning  of  the 
second  century,  the  traditions  respecting  him  have  of  course  a  much 
higher  authority  than  those  related  of  any  other  apostle.  And  the 
traditions  themselves  have  a  greater  appearance  of  historical  truth. 


138  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

Indeed,  some  very  decidedly  authentic  statements  of  his  later  life,  and 
others  which  seem  well  supported,  may  be  derived  from  the  genuine 
writings  of  the  ancient  fathers. 

But  where  he  spent  the  intervening  period,  from  the  year  50  until 
we  find  him  taking  up  his  permanent  residence  in  Asia  Minor,  there 
appears  to  be  no  very  positive  information.  It  seems  remarkable  that 
we  find  no  further  mention  of  him  in  the  Acts  after  the  council  held 
that  year  in  Jerusalem.  But  the  same  is  true  of  Peter.  Whether  he 
spent  this  whole  period  in  discharging  his  apostolic  office  at  Jerusalem 
or  in  Palestine,  becom.es  a  question  of  deep  interest.  It  appears  to  be 
as  well  established  as  any  fact  not  recorded  in  the  Scriptures  that 
Peter,  following  the  emigrants  and  colonists  of  his  own  nation,  journeyed 
eastward,  and  made  the  provinces  of  the  Parthian  empire  and  the 
regions  east  of  the  Euphrates  the  scene  of  his  labours. 

The  number  of  Jews  in  the  city  of  Babylon  and  the  province 
around  it  had,  it  is  said,  been  increased  at  this  time  to  such  a  degree 
that  they  constituted  a  very  large  portion  of  the  population.1  St. 
Peter  would  be  led  to  follow  them  as  he  prosecuted  his  apostolic  work. 
His  First  Epistle  seems  to  have  been  written  from  Babylon,2  and  is 
addressed  to  the  Christians  scattered  abroad,  beginning  with  Pontus,3 
the  place  nearest  to  him  on  the  north-east  of  Asia  Minor.  That  St. 
Peter  uses  "  Babylon  "  in  a  metaphorical  sense  for  Rome  is  a  conjecture 
which  has  few  supporters  among  scholars.  Michaelis  (J.  D.)  very 
ably  exposes  the  absurdity  of  the  opinion  that  Peter  dates  from 
Babylon  in  a  mystical  sense.  He  remarks  that,  through  some 
mistake,  it  has  been  supposed  that  the  ancient  Babylon,  in  the  time 
of  Peter,  was  no  longer  in  being;  and  it  is  true  that  in  comparison 
with  its  original  splendour  it  might  be  called  even  in  the  first 
century  a  desolated  city;  yet  it  was  not  wholly  a  heap  of  ruins  or 
destitute  of  inhabitants.  This  appears  from  the  account  which  Strabo, 
who  lived  in  the  time  of  Tiberius,  has  given  of  it.  This  ancient 
geographer  compares  Babylon  to  Seleucia;  saying,  "at  present  Babylon 
is  not  so  great  as  Seleucia/'  which  was  the  capital  of  the  Parthian 
empire,  and,  according  to  Pliny,  contained  six  hundred  thousand 
inhabitants.  Michaelis  further  humorously  remarks  that  "to  conclude 
that  Babylon,  whence  Peter  dates  his  Epistle,  could  not  have  been  the 
ancient  Babylon,  because  this  city  was  in  a  state  of  decay,  and  thence 
to  argue  that  Peter  used  the  word  mystically  to  denote  Rome,  is  about 
the  same  as  if,  on  the  receipt  of  a  latter  dated  from  Ghent  or  Antwerp, 
in  which  mention  was  made  of  a  Christian  community  there,  I  should 
conclude  that  because  these  cities  are  no  longer  what  they  were  in  the 
1  Jos.  Antiq.,  xviii.  1-9.  2  1  Pet.  v.  13. 

3  I  Pet.  i.  1. 


DID   ST.   JOHN   VISIT   BABYLON  ?  139 

sixteenth  century,  the  writer  of  the  epistle  meant  a  spiritual  Ghent  or 
Antwerp,  and  that  the  epistle  was  really  written  from  Amsterdam." 
He  continues  :  "  The  plain  language  of  epistolary  writing  does  not  admit 
of  such  figures ;  and  though  it  would  be  very  allowable  in  a  poem, 
written  in  honour  of  Gottingen  [this  was  the  residence  of  the  professor] 
to  style  it  another  Athens,  yet  if  a  professor  of  this  university  should, 
in  a  letter  written  from  Gottingen,  date  it  'Athens,'  it  would  be  a  greater 
piece  of  pedantry  than  ever  yet  was  laid  to  the  charge  of  the  learned. 
In  like  manner,  though  a  figurative  use  of  the  word  Babylon  is  not 
unsuitable  to  the  animated  and  poetical  language  of  the  Apocalypse, 
in  a  plain  and  unvarnished  epistle  Peter  would  hardly  have  called  the 
place  whence  he  wrote  (in  the  absence  of  any  conceivable  motive)  by 
any  other  appellation  than  that  which  literally  and  properly  belonged 
to  it."1  And  as  Babylon  in  Egypt  was  a  mere  military  station,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  the  place  named  by  Peter  was  the  ancient  Assyrian 
or  Chaldean  Babylon,  or  the  city  that  in  his  day  stood  on  its  site. 
"  It  was  a  city  of  great  importance  and  interest  in  a  religious  point  of 
view,  offering  a  most  ample  and  desirable  field  for  the  labours  of  the 
chief  apostle,  now  advancing  in  years,  and  whose  whole  genius,  feelings, 
and  religious  education,  and  natural  peculiarities,  qualified  him  as 
eminently  for  this  oriental  scene  of  labour  as  those  of  St.  Paul  fitted 
him  for  the  triumphant  advancement  of  the  Christian  faith  among  the 
polished  and  energetic  races  of  the  mighty  West.  With  Peter  went 
also  others  of  the  apostolic  band."2 

As  there  is  no  trace  of  the  labours  of  John  in  any  other  direction, 
it  is  not  improbable,  as  he  had  thus  far  been  so  intimately  associated 
with  Peter  in  apostolic  labours  in  Judsea  and  Samaria,  they  were  not 
separated  now;  at  least  for  a  portion  of  the  time  Peter  was  in  the 
Parthian  dominions.  As  far  back  as  the  time  of  Augustine,  A.D.  398, 
the  First  Epistle  of  John  was  known  as  the  Epistle  to  the  Parthians. 
He  quotes  1  John  iii.  2,  which  he  introduces,  "  which  is  said  by  John 
in  the  Epistle  to  the  Parthians."3  It  seems  indeed  pleasant  to  con- 
template these  eminent  apostles,  "  in  this  glorious  clime  of  the  East," 
amid  the  scenes  of  that  ancient  captivity  in  which  the  mourning  sons 
of  Zion  had  drawn  consolation  and  support  from  the  word  of  pro- 
phecy, which  the  march  of  time,  "  in  its  solemn  fulfilment,"  had  now 
made  the  faithful  history  of  God's  children ;  amid  the  ruins  of  empires, 
and  scattered  wrecks  of  ages,,  attesting  in  the  dreary  desolation  the 

1  Introd.  to  N.  T.,  Marsh's  Trans.,  xxvii.  4,  5.    Lardner  does  his  utmost  to 
maintain  the  mystical  sense,  and  may  be  referred  to:  Hist,  of  Apos.  and  Evang., 
xix.  3. 

2  D.  F.  Bacon's  Lives  of  the  Apostles,  p.  260. 

3  "  Quod  dictum  est  ab  Joanne  in  epistola  ad  Parthos"  (Quaest.  Evang.,  c.  xix.). 


140  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

surety  of  the  word  of  God.  "  From  the  lonely  waste,  mounded  with 
the  dust  of  twenty-three  centuries,  caine  the  solemn  witness  of  the 
truth  of  the  Hebrew  seers,  who  sang  over  the  highest  glories  of  that 
plain,  in  its  brightest  days,  the  long  foredoomed  ruin  that  at  last 
overswept  it  with  such  blighting  desolation.  Here  mighty  visions 
of  the  destiny  of  worlds,  the  rise  and  fall  of  empires,  rose  on  the 
view  of  Daniel  and  Ezekiel,  whose  prophetic  scope  on  this  vast 
stage  of  dominion  expanded  far  beyond  the  narrow  limits  that  bounded 
all  the  future  in  the  eyes  of  the  sublimest  of  those  prophets  whose 
whole  ideas  of  what  was  great  were  taken  from  the  little  world  of 
Palestine."1 

It  would  seem  indeed,  when  we  open  the  Apocalypse,  that  its  writer 
had  been  recently  reperusing  the  prophecies  of  these  captive  seers; 
and  they  may  have  been  made  the  more  vivid,  if  he  was  permitted 
to  do  this  amid  the  very  scenes  where  these  visions  were  granted. 
There  is  a  striking  similarity  between  some  of  the  leading  symbols 
of  the  Apocalypse,  and  those  of  Daniel  and  Ezekiel.  As  a  single 
example  of  this  close  resemblance  we  may  take  the  four  living  crea- 
tures of  Ezekiel  i.  5  seq.,  and  of  Revelation  iv.  6  seq.2  They  appear 
to  Ezekiel  out  of  the  midst  of  a  fiery  cloud.  As  for  the  likeness  of 
their  faces,  the  four  had  the  face  of  a  man  and  the  face  of  a  lion  on 
the  right  side ;  and  the  face  of  an  ox  and  the  face  of  an  eagle  on  the 
left.  Every  one  had  four  wings.  To  John  they  appear  in  the  midst 
of  the  throne,  and  round  about  the  throne  set  in  heaven ;  and  the  first 
was  like  a  lion,  the  second  like  a  calf,  the  third  had  the  face  of  a  man, 
and  the  fourth  was  like  a  flying  eagle  ;  and  they  had  each  of  them  six 
wings  about  him.  They  had  the  same  leonine,  bovine,  human,  and 
aquiline  faces,  pointing  to  the  same  great  characteristic  features  in 
the  providence  that  governs  this  world.  But  there  is  less  in  John's 
representation  to  strike  the  mind  with  awe.  The  throne  is  more  ac- 
cessible. It  is  not  borne  aloft,  with  lightning-like  swiftness,  above  the 
heavens ;  it  is  set  in  heaven  on  a  floor  of  crystal  or  of  glass,  and  the 
rainbow  about  it  is  distinguished  for  the  preponderance  of  its  emerald 
rays.  There  are  other  thrones  about  it  on  which  are  seated  redeemed 
men  in  white  raiment,  with  crowns  on  their  heads  and  palms  in  their 
hands,  singing  to  Him  who  sits  on  the  throne ;  for  in  the  midst  of 
the  throne  stood  a  Lamb  as  if  it  had  been  slain.  And  the  "Babylon" 
which  Peter  used  in  a  literal  John  uses  in  a  figurative  sense.  He  had 
seen  with  his  own  eyes  the  desolations  which  marked  the  proud  city ; 
and  its  overthrow  became  in  his  mind  a  vivid  symbol  of  the  destruc- 
tion of  that  city  which  should  attempt,  by  its  usurped  power,  to  lord 

1  D.  F.  Bacon's  Lives  of  the  Apostles,  p.  261. 

2  See  also  Dan.  vii.  9-14,  Ezek.  i.  and  xlvii. ;  Eev.  i.  8-18  and  xxii.,  etc. 


AGRIPPA   II.  141 

it  over  the  consciences  of  men,  and  to  enforce  its  idolatrous  practices  on 
the  Christian  world.1 

But  wherever  the  years  of  this  portion  of  St.  John's  unwritten 
history  were  spent,  they  were  doubtless  years  of  zealous  activity  for 
the  Master  he  Wed.  If  he  returned  to  Jerusalem,  it  was  not  to  tarry 
there  long.  The  days  of  its  tribulation,  foretold  by  prophets  and  by 
Christ,  were  at  hand.  From  the  time  when  Pompey,  in  the  spring  of 
the  year  63  B.C.,  led  his  army  down  the  valley  of  the  Jordan,  and 
looked  upon  that  city  from  the  Mount  of  Olives,  it  had  been  virtually 
under  the  domination  of  the  Romans.  The  Jews  were  exceedingly 
impatient  under  the  foreign  yoke,  and  repeatedly  on  the  point  of 
rebellion.  If  Agrippa  L,  at  the  risk  of  his  owli  life,  had  not  firmly 
resisted  the  purpose  of  Caligula  to  set  up  his  statue  in  the  temple  at 
Jerusalem,  it  would  have  broken  out  under  his  reign,  and  precipitated 
the  war  that  issued  in  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  But  this  Agrippa 
was  no  more.  He  died  miserably,2  shortly  after  the  martyrdom  of 
James  the  brother  of  John,  and  his  attempt  to  slay  Peter  in  like 
manner.  His  son  and  successor,  Agrippa  II.,  the  last  prince  of  the 
house  of  Herod,  was  but  seventeen  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his 
father's  death.  The  emperor  Claudius  therefore  kept  him  at  Rome, 
and  educated  him  at  his  court ;  and  in  the  meantime  Cuspius  Fadus 
was  sent  as  procurator  to  govern  the  kingdom,  which  thus  again  was 
reduced  to  a  mere  province.3  Claudius  at  length  granted  to  the  young 
prince,  in  A.D.  48,  a  portion  of  his  father's  dominions  in  the  north- 
east, with  the  right  of  superintending  the  temple  and  appointing  the 
high-priest.  Four  years  later  he  conferred  on  him  the  tetrarchate 
formerly  held  by  Philip  and  Lysanias,  with  the  title  of  king.  It  was 
before  this  youthful  king  that  the  apostle  Paul  made  his  celebrated 
defence.4  After  a  long  reign  of  fifty- one  years  he  died  in  the  third 
year  of  the  reign  of  Trajan ;  and  not  far  from  the  same  time  the  apostle 
John  died.  Before  the  outbreak  of  the  war  with  the  Romans,  he 
attempted  to  dissuade  the  people  from  rebellion ;  but  although  he  had, 
with  Herodian  profusion,  expended  large  sums  of  money  in  beautifying 
the  temple,  and  was  on  this  account  popular  and  influential  with  the 
people,  it  was  all  in  vain.  When  the  war  was  begun  he  of  course 
sided  with  the  Romans.  He  was  wounded  at  the  siege  of  Gamala. 
He  lived  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  the  Jewish  historian,  Josephus, 
whom  doubtless  he  influenced  also  to  side  with  the  Romans,  and  who 

1  Eev.  xvi.  19,  xvii.  5. 

2  Acts  xii.  20-23. 

3  Jos.  Antiq.,  xix.  9  (2) ;  xx.  1  (3),  etc. 

4  Acts  xxv.  and  xxvi. 


142  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

appears  to  have  been  still  alive  (he  was  born  A.D.  37)  at  the  end  of 
the  first  century,  after  the  death  of  his  friend  Agrippa.1 

When,  at  the  death  of  Agrippa  I.,  Judaea  had  relapsed  again  to  a 
mere  province  in  name,  as  it  had  long  been  in  fact,  under  the  suc- 
cessive governorships  of  Fadus,  Alexander,  Cumanus,  Felix,  Festus, 
Albinus,  and  Florus,  new  causes  of  restlessness  and  indignation  were 
given,  until  the  bounds  of  endurance  were  reached.  Outbreaks  and 
seditions  were  constantly  occurring,  and  gave  premonition  of  that  last 
fatal  struggle  which  they  who  paid  regard  to  prophecy,  especially  to 
the  predictions  of  our  Lord  Himself,  could  not  fail  to  understand. 
Of  the  feverish  state  of  the  minds  of  the  people,  and  of  the  terrible 
scenes  consequent  on  collisions  with  the  Romans,  the  Jewish  historian 
gives  a  detailed  and  graphic  account. 

That  monster  of  history,  whose  name  has  become  a  synonym  of  cruelty 
and  bloodshed,  Nero,  was  now  on  the  imperial  throne,  having  succeeded 
Claudius  in  the  year  55.  His  mother  Agrippina  having  married  the 
emperor  Claudius,  Claudius  adopted  Nero,  although  he  had  a  son  but 
three  or  four  years  younger.  Through  the  management  of  his  mother, 
on  the  death  of  Claudius  he  was  proclaimed  emperor.  This  ambitious 
woman  wished  to  govern  in  the  name  of  her  son,  as  she  had  done  to 
no  small  extent  in  that  of  her  late  husband.  Guided  by  Seneca,  who 
had  been  one  of  his  instructors,  and  Burrhus,  prefect  of  the  prastorian 
cohorts,  Nero  governed  mildly  for  a  few  years ;  but  he  soon  began  to 
indulge  his  frivolous  and  licentious  inclinations,  and  at  length  all  the 
malignant  passions  of  his  nature  became  aroused.  He  murdered 
Brifcannicus,  the  real  heir  to  the  throne,  his  mother,  his  wife  Octavia, 
his  tutor  Seneca,  and  the  poet  Lucan.  His  wife  Poppa3a,  whom  he 
married  after  the  divorce  of  Octavia,  died  from  a  kick  she  received 
from  her  brutal  husband.  The  history  of  his  crimes  constitutes  the 
greater  part  of  the  history  of  his  life.  He  was  ambitious  to  excel  as  a 
charioteer,  a  musician,  and  a  performer  at  the  theatre.  He  set  fire  to 
Rome,  and  while  the  city  was  burning,  standing  on  a  lofty  tower, 
where  he  could  survey  the  scene,  played  the  harp,  and  recited  a 
poem  on  the  fall  of  Troy.  He  drew  the  means  of  supporting  his 
extravagances  from  the  exactions  he  made  in  the  provinces  and 
robbery  of  the  temples.  It  was  XIV.  Kalend.  Sextil.  (19th  July), 
A.D.  64,  when  Nero,  according  to  Dion  and  Suetonius,  set  fire  to 
Rome.2  A  prodigious  amount  of  property  and  valuable  works  of  arfc 
were  destroyed,  and  many  lives  lost.  In  order  to  divert  odium  and 

1  Josephus,  Life,  54,  65.     He  named  one  of  his  sons  Agrippa,  and  preserved 
two  of  the  letters  he  received  from  the  king. 

2  Tacitus  leaves  the  matter  doubtful  (Ann.,  xv.  38),  whether  it  was  by  Nero's 
orders  ;  but  compare  §  44. 


2 C 


NERO. 


JUDJEA   CAPTA.  143 

suspicion  from  himself,  he  accused  the  Christians  of  the  crime,  who  it 
appears  had  then  become  numerous  at  Rome ;  and  the  first  great  per- 
secution of  the  infant  Church  by  the  Gentiles  was  commenced.  They 
were  exposed  to  the  severest  tortures.  Tacitus  describes  them  as 
covered  with  the  skins  of  wild  beasts,  that  they  might  be  torn  to 
pieces  by  dogs ;  while  others  were  crucified,  and  others  still,  having 
their  garments  daubed  and  saturated  with  some  inflammable  material, 
were  set  up  for  lights  in  the  night.  Tacitus  further  says  that  Nero 
lent  his  own  gardens  for  the  spectacle.1  Juvenal  says  that  Christians, 
standing  with  their  throats  pinned  to  posts,  burned  like  torches. 

Gessius  Florus  had  succeeded  Albinus  in  the  governorship  of 
Palestine.  His  conduct  was  such  that  it  caused  the  Jews  to  regard 
the  government  of  Albinus,  which  had  been  oppressive,  with  compara- 
tive regret.  Without  pity  or  shame,  he  was  a  systematic  plunderer  of 
the  province  he  had  been  sent  to  govern.  He  was  a  fit  representative 
of  the  emperor  then  on  the  throne.  No  gains  were  too  petty  for  him  ; 
no  extortions  too  enormous.  They  extended,  not  merely  to  cities  and 
persons,  but  to  whole  districts.  Both  Josephus  and  Tacitus,  the  one 
from  the  Jewish  and  the  other  from  the  Roman  standpoint,  attribute 
the  last  war  of  the  Jews  with  the  Romans  to  this  Florus,  and  say  that 
he  purposely  kindled  the  rebellion  in  order  to  conceal  the  wrongs  he 
had  perpetrated.2  In  the  year  67  Nero  sent  Vespasian  with  an  army 
of  60,000  to  put  down  this  rebellion.  Soon  after,  having,  through  fear 
of  the  vengeance  of  an  oppressed  people,  which  he  richly  deserved,  fled 
out  of  Rome,  he  perished  miserably  by  the  sword  of  his  freedman.  He 
was  the  last  of  the  descendants  of  the  Julian  family.  3 

Vespasian,  who  had  already  in  two  campaigns  conquered  all  the 
country  except  Jerusalem,  and  acquired  great  reputation,  was  pro- 
claimed emperor  at  Alexandria,  and  a  few  days  later,  in  Judaea,  by  the 
army,  and  very  soon  throughout  the  whole  East.  He  was  recalled  to 
Rome  by  his  election  to  the  supreme  authority ;  and  his  son,  Titus, 
whom  he  left  in  command  of  the  army  in  Judeea,  concluded  the  war 
by  utterly  destroying  Jerusalem  and  razing  it  to  the  ground.  The 
medal  which  was  struck  in  commemoration  of  the  event  bears  on  one 
side  a  veiled  female  figure  sitting  under  a  palm-tree,  with  the  in- 
scription Judcea  Capta.  The  event  was  also  commemorated  on  the 
denarius  of  his  time.  The  period  between  the  death  of  Nero  and  the 
accession  of  Vespasian  was  nothing  less  than  a  period  of  utter  anarchy, 
in  which  the  several  successors  of  Nero  played  so  subordinate  a  part 

1  Ann.,  xv.  44. 

2  Jos.  Antiq.  xviii.,  1  (6) ;  xx.  11  (1) ;  Wars,  ii.  14 ;  Tac.  Hist.,  v.  10. 

8  Suet.,  Nero,  50.  The  cervix  obesa  of  Suetonius  is  seen  in  the  accompanying 
bust. 


144  THE    LIFE   AND    WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

that  they  may  well  be  styled  "  mock  emperors."  It  is  a  remarkable 
circumstance  that  the  memory  of  this  wretched  man  was  cherished  by 
the  common  people,  and  for  many  years  his  tomb  was  decorated  with 
flowers.1  It  was  a  popular  belief  that  he  was  to  appear  again,  to  be 
revenged  on  his  enemies.  This  was  the  Caesar  to  whom  Paul  appealed, 
and  under  whose  reign  he  was  a  prisoner  at  Rome  on  two  separate 
occasions,  and  by  whose  edict  he  at  length  suffered  martyrdom.  This 
was  but  shortly  before  (the  summer  of)  the  persecutor's  death. 

St.  John  would  not  fail,  from  the  disturbances  of  the  country,  to 
understand  that  the  days  had  come  of  which  his  Master  had  spoken, 
"  these  are  the  beginning  of  sorrows ;"  "  let  them  which  be  in  Juda3a 
flee  unto  the  mountains."  2  He  was  quick  to  discern  the  agitated  state 
of  the  country,  the  signs  of  the  destruction  that  was  hastening ;  and, 
no  doubt,  under  the  special  direction  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  took  his 
departure  from  Jerusalem.  There  is  a  tradition,  entitled  to  more  than 
ordinary  respect,  that  the  Christians  leaving  Jerusalem  took  refuge  in 
the  little  city  of  Pella,  belonging  to  the  Decapolis,  on  a  small  eastern 
branch  of  the  Jordan,  about  sixty  miles  from  Jerusalem,  among  the 
mountains  of  Gilead.  If  St.  John  accompanied  them  it  cannot  be 
supposed  he  remained  there  long.  We  therefore  conclude  that  about 
this  time  he  embarked  either  at  Tyre  or  at  Caesarea  for  Asia  Minor. 
"  Many  of  the  most  eminent  Jews,"  says  Josephus,3  in  giving  an 
account  of  the  defeat  of  Cestius,  the  governor  of  Syria,  who  had 
advanced  with  an  army  from  Antioch  to  Jerusalem,  "  swam  away  from 
the  city,  as  from  a  ship  when  it  was  going  to  sink."  A  year  or  two 
earlier  or  later  would  agree  quite  as  well  with  the  other  known  facts 
of  his  history. 

What  must  have  been  the  apostle's  emotions  as  he  sailed  away  from 
his  native  shores  !  As  he  looked  back,  and  saw  Hermon  and  Lebanon 
sinking  in  the  distance,  he  well  knew  by  what  fearful  convulsions  the 
country  was  rent,  and  was  yet  to  be  rent ;  the  ravages  of  the  fierce 
invaders,  the  prophetic  signs  of  the  approaching  catastrophe.  Many 
of  the  events  to  which  Josephus  bears  testimony,  going  to  show  the 
agitated  state  of  the  country,  were  probably  well  known  to  St.  John, 
and  of  some  perhaps  he  had  been  an  eye  witness.  The  legions  of 
Rome,  on  their  march,  flew  like  flocks  of  devouring  birds  from  city  to 
city,  sparing  from  death  or  hopeless  slavery  neither  age  nor  sex.  It  is 
recorded  of  one  city  (Jotapata),  that  all  its  population,  save  infants 
and  women,  to  the  number  of  40,000  were  put  to  the  sword.4  Joppa 
and  the  neighbouring  villages  were  demolished,  and  the  surrounding 
country  laid  waste.  Of  all  the  inhabitants  of  Gamala,  not  far  from 

1  Suet.,  Nero,  57.  3  Josephus,  Wars,  ii.  20  (1). 

2  Matt.  xxiv.  8-16.  4  Wars,  iii.  7  (36). 


ST.  JOHN   REACHES   EPHESUS.  145 

Pella,  not  even  infants  were  spared,  and  but  two  women  escaped.  The 
men,  to  escape  the  sword  of  the  invaders,  threw  their  wives,  their 
children,  and  themselves,  from  the  eminence  on  which  their  city 
was  built,  into  the  deep  abyss  below.1  What  emotions  and  thoughts 
must  have  filled  the  soul  of  such  a  man  as  St.  John  as  he  sailed 
away  from  such  a  scene,  knowing  as  he  did  that  these  were  but  the 
beginning  of  sorrows !  He  had  been  familiar  with  the  little  inland 
Lake  of  Gennesaret  from  his  youth.  He  was  now  on  the  great  sea, 
famed  for  the  fierce  Euroclydons,2  or  Levanters,  that  vexed  it.  As  he 
sailed  along  the  shores  of  Cyprus,  he  could  see  the  forests  of  which 
the  inhabitants  made  their  boast,  and  the  mountains  from  which 
Judeea  derived  so  largely  its  supply  of  metals.  His  course  lay  by 
Rhodes,  famous  from  the  remotest  antiquity  for  its  commerce,  its 
literature  and  arts,  and  which  was  to  be  in  after  ages  the  residence  of 
an  order  of  celebrated  knights  that  were  to  bear  his  own  name.  He 
could  see  the  lofty  mount  that  rose  from  its  centre,  and  perhaps  the 
far  famed  Colossus  that  spanned  the  entrance  of  the  harbour,  and 
catch  the  powerful  fragrance  with  which  every  breeze  was  said  to  be 
scented,  wafted  from  the  orange  groves  and  citron  trees  and  the 
numberless  aromatic  herbs,  which  exhale  such  a  profusion  of  the 
richest  odours  that  the  whole  atmosphere  of  the  island  seems  impreg- 
nated with  the  spicy  perfume.  He  passes  Cnidus,  celebrated  for  its 
magnificent  city  and  the  worship  of  Venus,  and  enters  the  archipelago, 
among  the  islands  made  so  famous  by  classical  history.  Perhaps,  as  he 
sails  along,  he  gazes  on  the  desolate  Patmos,  little  thinking  it  was  soon 
to  be  his  prison,  or  what  visions  would  be  granted  to  him  there. 

He  draws  near  to  the  port  of  his  debarkation.  His  voyage  has  taken 
him  over  one  of  the  main  lines  of  traffic  known  to  the  ancient  world. 
The  Miletus,  where  St.  Paul  had  embarked  after  his  touching  farewell 
to  the  elders  of  Ephesus,  may  have  been  the  spot  where  St.  John  left 
the  ship.3  This  is  rendered  the  more  probable,  inasmuch  as  the  causes 
which  at  length  converted  what  was  once  the  fine  harbour  of  Ephesus 
into  an  unhealthful  morass  were  already  at  work,  and  had  made 
Miletus  the  port  of  that  celebrated  city.  To  increase  the  depth  of 

1  Wars,  iii.,  iv. 

2  Acts  xxvii.  14. 

3  The  tradition  that  John  met  with  shipwreck  as  he  was  drawing  near  the  end 
of  his  voyage  has  no  necessary  improbability.     "  Quidam  perhibet  author  Vita 
Tirnothei,  a  Photio  excerptus,  qui  scribit,  quod  Joannes  Ephesi  habitaverit,  naufra- 
gium  jam  ad  littus  passus,  et  e  mari  adhuc  spirans  ejectus,  dum  Nero  crudelis  in 
Christianos     saeviret,    quibus    verbis    adventus  Apostoli  Ephesum    persecution! 
Neronianaa  innectitur.     Verba  authoris  sunt :  Kat  yap  iv  ra^ry  Sitrpipe, 

fj.£v  Trepl  TOV  alyiaXw,  €Kf3pa<r8eis  8£  TTJS  0a.\d<T(rr]s  e^irv^wv  frt,  TJVIKO.  N^/w^  6 
rbv  Kara  T&V  XpiaTiavuiv  e^Trm  foury/Ao?"  (Lampe,  Proleg.,  i.,  C.  3,  xi.). 

L 


146  THE   LIFE   AND   WEITINGS   OF  ST.  JOHN. 

water,  the  engineers  of  Attains  Philadelphus,  about  150  B.C.,  narrowed 
the  entrance  of  the  harbonr,  and  threw  up  a  mole  before  the  mouth 
of  the  river  to  keep  back  the  mud.  But  they  were  disappointed  at  the 
result.  The  flow  and  ebb  of  the  sea  could  no  longer  clear  the  mud 
away;  the  harbour  was  gradually  made  shallow  to  its  very  mouth, 
and  finally  destroyed.1 

The  apostle  was  now  in  "Asia,"  Ionic  Asia,  the  Asia  of  the  New 
Testament,  which  means,  not  the  great  continent  under  this  name,  but 
merely  the  western  portion  of  that  peninsula,  known  to  us  under  the 
name  of  Asia  Minor.  Two  large  rivers,  Hermus  and  Meander,  flow 
from  the  interior  westward  into  the  ^Egean.  Between  the  valleys 
drained  by  these  two  rivers  was  the  smaller  basin  of  the  Cayster, 
at  the  mouth  of  which  Ephesus  was  situated,  between  Smyrna  and 
Miletus,  about  midway  of  the  western  coast  of  the  peninsula,  opposite 
the  island  of  Samos.  None  of  the  cities  of  Ionia  had  been  more  favour- 
ably situated  for  commercial  prosperity  than  Ephesus.  With  an  excel- 
lent climate,  and  surrounded  with  a  fertile  country,  it  was,  until  its 
harbour  was  destroyed,  most  conveniently  located  for  traffic  with 
neighbouring  parts  of  the  Levant ;  and,  as  late  as  the  time  of  Augustus 
Cassar,  was  "  the  great  emporium  of  all  the  regions  of  Asia  within  the 
Taurus."  The  hills  on  which  a  large  portion  of  the  city  was  built 
were  Prion  and  Coressus.  It  was  the  most  ancient,  wealthy,  pros- 
perous, and  magnificent  of  the  Greek  cities  in  Asia  Minor,  the  centre 
of  Greek  culture  in  science  and  art ;  and  while,  about  the  period  of 
the  introduction  of  Christianity,  the  other  cities  began  to  decline,  this, 
as  it  was  the  capital  of  the  province,  where  the  Roman  governor  held 
his  court,  fully  maintained  its  importance.2 

In  this  same  region  we  find  the  sites  of  the  other  Apocalyptic 
churches.  Laodicea  is  in  the  basin  of  the  Meander;  Smyrna,  Thyatira, 
Sardis,  and  Philadelphia,  in  that  of  the  Hermus.  Pergamos  is  farther 
to  the  north,  on  the  Cetius.  Travellers  to  the  site  of  Ephesus  see  piles 
of  ruins  of  edifices  on  the  rocky  sides,  and  among  the  thickets  of 
Prion  and  Coressus.  The  sea  has  retired  on  the  main  coast,  about 

1  Strabo,  xiv.  1  (24)  ;  Tacitus,  Ann.,  xvi.  23. 

2  As  the  centre  from  which  the  last  survivor  of  the  apostles  was  to  make  his 
influence  felt  far  and  wide  for  nearly  fifty  years,  Ephesus  possessed  local  advan- 
tages of  the  highest  order.     As  to  the  fitness  and  importance  of  the  place  for  such 
a  purpose,  the  Magdeburg  Centuriators  have  expresssed  themselves  in  a  passage 
noted  for  the  classic  elegance  of  its  Latin  :   "  Considera  mirabile  Dei  consilium. 
Joannes  in  Ephesum  ad  litus  maris  Mgsei  collocatus  est :  ut  inde,  quasi  e  specula, 
retro  suam  Asiam   videret,  suaque  fragrantia  repleret :    ante  se  vero  Graeciam, 
totamque  Europam  haberet ;  ut  inde,  tanquam  tuba  Domini  sonora,  etiam  ultra- 
marinos  populos  suis  concionibus  ac  scriptis  inclamaret  et  invitaret  ad  Christum ; 
presertim,  cum  ibi  fuerit  admodum  commodus  portus,  plurimique  mercatores  ac 
homines  peregrini  ea  loca  adierint"  (Mag.  Ecc.  Hist.  Cent.,  ii.  2). 


EUINS   OP   EPHESUS.  147 

three  miles  distant  from  the  last  range  of  ruins  in  the  plain.  There  is 
no  gulf  and  no  harbour ;  but  instead,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Cayster  a 
delta  is  formed,  and  the  whole  plain  is  a  marsh,  full  of  reeds,  through 
which  the  river  flows  in  a  continually  changing  course.1  The  theatre, 
the  odeon,  the  gymnasium,  the  stadium,  on  the  different  slopes  of 
Mount  Prion,  are  all  in  the  same  state  of  ruin.  In  the  "  dripping 
marble  quarries,"  on  its  eastern  side,  are  still  visible  the  marks  of  the 
tools. 

The  one  building  at  Ephesus  which  surpassed  all  others  in  mag- 
nificence and  fame,  and  was  counted  by  the  ancients  as  one  of  the 
wonders  of  the  world,  was  the  temple  of  Diana.  After  it  had  been 
slowly  rising,  during  a  long  course  of  years,  having  been  commenced 
before  the  Persian  war,  it  was  set  on  fire  by  the  fanatic  Herostratus, 
on  the  same  night  on  which  Alexander  the  Great  was  born.  It  was 
rebuilt  with  more  sumptuous  magnificence,  even  the  ladies  of  Ephesus 
contributing  their  jewels  to  the  expense  of  the  restoration.  And  the 
Ephesians  never  ceased  to  embellish  it,  adding  new  decorations  and 
subsidiary  buildings  and  colonnades.  The  decay  of  this  temple  began 
in  the  third  century,  when,  shattered  by  an  earthquake,  its  gates  were 
sent  to  Constantinople,  and  it  became  a  quarry  for  the  architects  of  the 
Byzantine  cities  built  in  Asia  Minor.  What  remained  of  its  ruins  was 
allowed  to  be  buried  by  the  slow  but  sure  action  of  alluvial  deposit, 
until  its  very  site  was  obliterated  and  became  a  matter  of  dispute. 

It  has  just  now  (near  the  beginning  of  1871),  by  the  sagacity  and 
energy  of  an  English  archaeologist,  Mr.  Wood,  been  discovered.  He 
had  been  searching  for  it  since  1863.  A  large  area  of  the  temple  has 
been  cleared  to  the  pavement,  and  various  architectural  marbles  have 
been  found,  more  or  less  mutilated,  lying  as  they  had  been  left  in  the 
Byzantine  times.  The  scale  of  the  architecture  is  of  course  colossal, 
the  diameter  of  the  columns  being  six  feet,  exceeding,  it  is  believed  in 
proportions,  the  celebrated  temple  of  Jupiter  Olympius  at  Athens,  and 
all  extant  examples  of  Greek  architecture.2  These  beyond  question 
are  relics  of  the  columns  on  which  St.  John  must  have  often  gazed. 

This  was  the  proud,  busy,  superstitious  city,  at  which  our  apostle 
had  now  arrived.  He  found  a  Christian  community  there  under  the 
very  shadow  of  this  great  heathen  temple.  Apollos,  Priscilla  and 
Aquila,  and  the  great  apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  had  been  there  before 
him.  Paul  appears  to  have  devoted  three  entire  years  of  his  apostolic 
labours  to  that  city.3  In  this  great  centre  of  trade  and  false  worship, 
of  science  and  art,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  St.  John  entered,  with 

1  See  Tristram's  Seven  Churches,  p.  15. 

2  Smyrna  Correspondence,  January,  1871,  London  Times. 

3  Acts  xix.  10,  xx.  31. 


148  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OP   ST.  JOHN. 

his  characteristic  ardour,  on  his  great  work.  But  scarcely  could  he 
have  entered  on  it  before  the  bloody  persecution  of  Nero,  which  swept 
to  the  remotest  provinces,1  reached  him.  It  commenced  A.D.  64,  and 
continued  until  the  death  of  the  persecutor  in  68.  From  his  con- 
spicuous station  and  office,  St.  John  was  no  doubt  one  of  the  earliest 
on  whom  the  agents  and  minions  of  the  persecutor  would  seize.  He 
was  banished  to  Patmos,  an  obscure  island,  some  fifteen  miles  in  cir- 
cumference, situated  not  far  from  the  coast,  south  of  Ephesus,  a  short 
distance  beyond  Samos.  It  is  little  more  than  one  huge  rock,  rising 
out  of  the  sea.  In  this  desolate  place,  at  some  time  during  the 
four  years  of  this  persecution,  the  visions  of  the  Apocalypse  were 
seen  and  recorded.  If  we  suppose  he  left  Judaea  as  Cestius  Gallus 
was  approaching  with  his  army  from  Antioch,  A.D.  65,  and  that  he  was 
banished  to  Patmos  soon  after  his  arrival  at  Ephesus,  it  only  serves  to 
bring  the  catastrophe,  to  which  a  considerable  portion  of  the  prophecy 
manifestly  relates,  so  much  nearer  the  time  when  the  prophecy  itself  was 
given.  The  1260  days  were  very  soon  to  commence,  and  on  his  lonely 
rock  in  the  ^gean  the  banished  apostle  could  see  the  lightnings  flash, 
and  hear  the  thunders  roll,  and  the  trumpets  of  the  armies  resound, 
gathering- for  the  overthrow  of  the  devoted  city  he  loved  so  well. 

1  Orosius,  Histor.,  viii.  7  :  "per  omnes  provincias." 


Volat  avis  sine  meta, 

Quo  nee  vates,  nee  propheta, 

Evolavit  altius. 
Tarn  implenda,  quam  impleta, 
Nunquam  vidit  tot  secreta 

Purus  homo  purius. 


Coelum  transit,  veri  rotam 
Solis  vidit,  ibi  totam 

Mentis  figens  aciem ; 
Speculator  spiritalis 
Quasi  Seraphim  sub  alis, 

Dei  vidit  faciern. 
ADAM  OF  ST.  VICTOR  : 

Apud  Daniel,  Thes.  HymnoL,  ii.  166. 


Transcendit  nubes,  et  transcendit  sidera,  transcendit  angelos,  trans- 
cendit  omnem  creaturam,  pervenit  ad  Verbum,  per  quod  facta  sunt 
omnia, 

Sx,  AUGUSTIN  :  Serm.  in  Diebus  Paschal.,  253. 


ST.    JOHN. 

WHAT  THOU  SEEST,  WRITE  IN  A  BOOK." — Rev.  i.  11. 


FROM    THE    THORWALDSEN  MARBLES. 


CHAPTER  IX. 
THE  APOCALYPSE :  ITS  DATE  AND  DESIGN. 

I.  DATE. — FROM  INTERNAL  EVIDENCE. — PECULIAR  IDIOM. — SEVEN  CHURCHES 

AS  YET  ONLY  IN  ASIA. — JUDAIZING  HERETICS  ACTIVE. — THE  JEWS  STILL 
OCCUPYING  AS  A  DISTINCT  PEOPLE  THEIR  LAND.— JERUSALEM  NOT  YET 
DESTROYED. — THE  SIXTH  ROMAN  EMPEROR  ON  THE  THRONE. — NO  INTER- 
NAL EVIDENCE  FAVOURING  LATER  DATE. — THE  EXTERNAL  EVIDENCE  ESTI- 
MATED.— II.  DESIGN. — THEME,  COMING  OF  CHRIST. — HIS  COMING  PARTLY 

VISIBLE,  PARTLY  INVISIBLE.— BOOK  WITH  SEVEN  SEALS,  SYMBOL  OF  THE 
ENTIRE  PROPHECY. — OVERTHROW  OF  THE  JEWISH  AND  PAGAN  PERSE- 
CUTING POWERS. — OF  THE  LATER  OPPOSING  POWERS. — MILLENNIAL  AND 
HEAVENLY  GLORY. 

I.  DATE  DETERMINED  FROM  INTERNAL  EVIDENCE.1 

THE  question  whether  the  Apocalypse  was  written  at  an  early  or  in 
the  very  closing  period  of  the  apostolic  ministration  has  importance  as 
bearing  on  the  interpretation  of  the  book.  A  true  exposition  depends, 
in  no  small  degree,  upon  a  knowledge  of  the  existing  condition  of 
things  at  the  time  it  was  written ;  i.e.,  of  the  true  point  in  history 
occupied  by  the  writer,  and  those  whom  he  originally  addressed.  The 
same  is  manifestly  true  of  the  prophecies  in  general ;  eminently  so  of 
those  of  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  and  Daniel.  If  the  book  were  an  epistle, 
like  that  to  the  Romans  or  to  the  Hebrews,  it  might  be  of  comparatively 
little  importance,  in  ascertaining  its  meaning,  to  be  able  to  determine 

1  The  question  whether  John  was  the  author  of  the  Apocalypse  is  not  considered 
in  this  book.  There  is  an  exhaustive  discussion  of  this  question  in  the  first  volume 
of  Stuart's  Commentary  on  the  Apocalypse,  filling  nearly  200  pages,  in  which  the 
author  appears  to  give  the  fairest  consideration  and  the  fullest  weight  to  the  objec- 
tions made  to  the  Johannean  authorship,  but  is  compelled  to  believe,  in  the  end, 
that  the  book  was  written  by  the  apostle  John.  [The  latest  work  on  this  subject, 
Luthardt's  "  St.  John  the  Author  of  the  Fourth  Gospel,"  had  not  come  to  hand 
when  the  former  part  of  this  note  was  written.  In  it  the  gifted  professor  is  said  to 
discuss  this  question  with  learning,  thoroughness,  and  the  most  admirable  spirit ; 
and  on  a  more  careful  examination  one  comes  to  estimate  still  more  highly  the 
reverential  spirit,  together  with  the  candour  and  research  and  mastery  of  his 
materials  with  which  he  has  examined  the  evidence  and  vindicated  the  apostolic 
authorship  of  this  Gospel.  A  translation  by  Caspar  Eene  Gregory  has  been  published 
by  T.  &  T.  Clark,  Edinburgh  ;  and  Seribner,  Welford  &  Armstrong,  New  York.] 


152  THE    LIFE   AND   WEITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

whether  it  was  written  at  the  commencement  of  the  apostolic  era  or 
at  its  very  close. 

It  is  obvious  that  if  the  book  itself  throws  any  distinct  light  on  this 
subject,  this  internal  evidence,  especially  in  the  absence  of  reliable 
historical  testimony,  ought  to  be  decisive.  Instead  of  appealing  to  tradi- 
tion or  to  some  doubtful  passage  in  an  ancient  father,  we  interrogate 
the  book  itself,  or  we  listen  to  what  the  Spirit  saith  that  was  in  him 
who  testified  of  these  things.  It  will  be  found  that  no  book  of  the 
New  Testament  more  abounds  in  passages  which  clearly  have  respect 
to  the  time  when  it  was  written. 

It  is  necessary  only  to  premise  that  the  question  in  regard  to  the 
authorship  of  the  Apocalypse  will  be  considered  as  settled  ;  that  is,  it 
will  be  taken  for  granted  that  it  was  written  by  the  apostle  John,  the 
same  who  wrote  the  fourth  Gospel  and  the  Epistles  that  bear  his 
name. 

1.  Evidence  from  Peculiar  Idiom. 

The  peculiar  idiom,  so  thoroughly  Hebraistic,  in  which  it  is  written, 
proves  that  it  was  the  first  of  the  books  written  by  John,  and  one  of 
the  earliest  of  the  New  Testament. 

The  entire  New  Testament,  it  is  true,  is  written  in  this  Greek  of  the 
synagogue,  or  Hebrew  Greek.  It  records  doctrines  and  precepts 
originally  delivered  in  Hebrew,  or  in  a  dialect  of  that  language,  and 
events  many  of  which  had  been  predicted  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures. 
Moreover,  the  Hebrew,  or  this  dialect,  was  the  vernacular  of  the  prin- 
cipal actors  and  speakers  mentioned  in  the  narrative  parts.  It  was 
unavoidable  that  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament,  themselves 
Hebrews,  in  expressing  these  new  and  peculiar  ideas  in  a  foreign  lan- 
guage, should  attach  new  shades  of  meaning  to  many  words,  coin  new 
ones,  and  imitate  Hebrew  phrases  and  constructions.  This  language  or 
idiom  had  already  been  prepared  for  them,  as  to  a  considerable  portion 
of  the  terms,  by  the  Septuagint  translation  of  the  Scriptures.  Some  of 
the  words  in  this  Hellenistic  Greek  are  used  in  senses  which,  as 
remarked  by  Dr.  Campbell,1  "  can  be  learned  only  from  the  extent  of 
signification  given  to  some  Hebrew  or  Chaldaic  word,  corresponding  to 
the  Greek  in  its  primitive  and  most  ordinary  sense,"  as  found  in 
classic  authors. 

Now  what  is  true  of  the  Greek  of  the  entire  New  Testament  and  of 
the  Septuagint  is  very  especially  true  of  that  of  the  Apocalypse.  We  find 
here  far  more  numerous  instances  of  these  changes  or  this  extension  in 
the  meaning  of  words,  imitations  of  whole  phrases,  analogous  forma- 

1  Preliminary  Dissertation,  p.  23. 


HEBREW-GREEK   IDIOM.  153 

tions  of  new  words,  and  examples  of  the  combination  of  Hebrew  inflec- 
tions and  constructions,  and  a  predilection  for  the  preposition  where 
the  Greeks  use  only  the  cases.  It  is  especially  deserving  of  notice  how 
the  writer  of  the  Apocalypse,  when  expressing  in  Greek  a  Hebrew 
epithet,  for  which  no  proper  representative  is  found  in  the  Greek  lan- 
guage, puts  it  in  the  nominative  case  where  the  syntax  would  require 
a  genitive  or  a  dative  or  an  accusative,  thus  conforming  to  the  Hebrew 
nouns  he  is  representing,  which  do  not  admit  of  inflection  in  the  oblique 
cases.  The  following  are  examples  :  chap.  i.  4  ;  dirb  6  t*v  <al  6  rjv  Kal 
o  epxofjievos.  These  words  are  a  rendering  in  Greek  of  the  word 
"  Jehovah,"  which  is  indeclinable.  The  ano  requires  the  genitive  ;  but 
the  writer,  governed  by  the  Hebrew,  recognises  no  oblique  cases.  He 
sees  no  room  for  flexion  in  translating  that  name  which  expresses 
attributes  belonging  only  to  Him  who  is  the  same  present,  past, 
and  future.  In  the  original  it  is  literally  "from  who  is,  and  who 
was,  and  who  comes."  And  so  in  the  next  verse,  airo  'Ir)<rov  Xpio-rov,  6 
pdprvs,  K.r.A.  We  learn  from  chap.  iii.  14  that  these  words  define  the 
meaning  of  the  indeclinable  Hebrew  noun  "Amen";  hence  the  casus 
redus  again. 

We  sometimes  have  in  a  single  word  an  example  of  the  manner  in 
which  John  weds  the  Hebrew  and  the  Greek.  Thus  in  chap.  i.  15,  in  the 
description  of  the  appearance  of  the  Son  of  man,  it  is  said  His  feet  were 
"  like  unto  fine  frrass,"  xaAKoAi/3azx»,  a  word  which  has  greatly  perplexed 
students.  It  is  found  only  in  this  book,  and  was  probably  a  word  of 
John's  own  composition.  The  explanation  which  commends  itself 
above  any  other  is  as  follows  :  it  is  composed  of  a  Greek  word  and  a 
Hebrew,  \a\Kos,  brass,  and  ]?7>  to  make  white ;  so  xa^K0^avov  means 
brass  brought  to  a  white  heat,  in  an  incandescent  state,  of  a  glittering 
whiteness.  This  explanation  was  first  proposed  by  Bochart.1  It  has 
been  adopted  by  Yitringa,  Hengstenberg,  and  Trench.  Hengstenberg 
says :  "  in  the  formation  of  this  word  we  are  presented  with  a  small 
image  of  the  innermost  nature  of  the  Apocalypse,  the  singular  manner 
in  which  the  Hebrew  and  the  Hellenic  are  fused  together  in  it."  2  We 
have  perhaps  another  somewhat  similar  example  in  the  word  NtKoAcuYoip, 
chap.  ii.  6,  the  best  interpretation  of  which  is  that  it  is  derived  from  the 
Greek  words  VIK.O.V  rbv  XaoV,  which  would  express  in  a  name,  Nicolaus  or 
Nicolas,  what  Balaam  expresses  in  Hebrew,  "  destroyer  of  the  people," 
and  is  therefore  equivalent  to  Balaamites.  As  the  other  names  in  this 
book  are  predominantly  mystical  and  symbolic,  in  all  probability  this 
is  so  as  well.3 

1  De  Animalibus  Sacr.  Script.,  ii.  16,  p.  883. 

2  Comm.  on  Kev.,  Edin.  Ed.,  i.,  p.  101,  note. 

3  See  Archbishop  Trench  on  Epistles  to  the  Seven  Churches  :  Amer.  Ed.,  p.  58. 


154  THE    LIFE   AND   WEITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

But  so  conspicuous  is  this  Hebrew  idiom  in  the  Apocalypse  that  it  is 
unnecessary  to  multiply  examples.  While  it  is  Greek  in  language,  it  is 
Hebrew  in  form  and  spirit.  This  lies  upon  the  very  surface,  and  is 
patent  to  the  most  cursory  examination.  It  is  admitted  by  all  who 
have  bestowed  any  attention  on  the  subject  that  it  is  more  prominent 
here  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  New  Testament,  not  excepting  the 
other  writings  of  John.  It  causes  the  book  to  bear  somewhat  the 
aspect  of  an  elementary,  initiatory  work,  as  if  it  might  be  the  fontal 
source  of  those  further  idiomatic  changes  required  in  the  Greek  of  the 
synagogue,  to  adapt  it  to  the  expression  of  the  truths  of  the  gospel  of 
Christ.  Now  what  are  we  authorized  to  infer  from  this  ?  Clearly 
that  it  was  one  of  the  earliest  written  books  of  the  New  Testament. 
Beyond  all  question,  as  the  New  Testament  contains  other  books 
written  by  John,  this  Hebrew  complexion,  so  marked  in  the  style  of 
the  Apocalypse,  proves  that  the  writer  of  it  was  but  recently  arrived 
among  a  Greek  population,  and  that  this  was  his  first  attempt  at  com- 
position in  Greek.  At  this  result  we  have  certainly  arrived,  that  the 
Apocalypse,  in  its  verbal  language,  bears  evidence  of  having  been 
written  long  before  the  Gospel  and  Epistles  of  John.  Tholuck  says  : 
"  when  we  compare  it  [the  style  of  the  Gospel  of  John]  with  the  style 
of  the  Apocalypse,  the  Gospel,  to  all  appearance,  must  have  been 
written  at  a  considerably  later  period."  1  He  thinks  that  the  interval 
of  twenty  or  twenty-five  years  would  not  be  too  great  to  require  to 
account  for  the  great  diversity  in  their  language.  Of  all  the  arguments 
adduced  by  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  none  appears  more  cogent  to  Michaelis 
than  that  which  is  drawn  from  the  Hebrew  style  of  the  Revelation, 
from  which  Sir  Isaac  had  drawn  the  conclusion  that  John  must  have 
written  the  book  shortly  after  his  departure  from  Palestine,  and  before 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.2 

2.  Seven  Churches  only  in  Asia  at  the  time  it  was  written. 

There  appear  to  have  been  but  seven  churches  in  Asia,  that  is  to  say, 
in  Proconsular  Asia,  or  that  part  of  Asia  Minor  lying  along  the  western 
seaboard,  when  this  book  was  written.  It  is  dedicated  to  these  seven 
alone,  by  the  careful  mention  of  them  one  by  one  by  name,  as  if  there 
were  no  others  (i.  4,  11)  ;  rais  CTTTO.  eufajo'tius  TOIS  eV  rff  'Ao-m,  "  to  the  seven 
churches  in  Asia."  The  expression  "the  seven  churches"  seems  to 
imply  that  this  constituted  the  whole  number,  and  hence  affords  one  of 
the  most  striking  incidental  proofs  in  favour  of  an  early  date.  "  There 
were  but  seven  churches,"  says  Dr.  Tilloch,  "in  Asia  when  the  Revela- 

1  Comm.  on  Gospel,  Introd.,  §  3.    Also  Olshausen's  Introd.  to  John,  §  4. 

2  Introductory  Lecture,  Marsh's  Translation,  1793.    Vol.  iv. 


JUDAIZERS   IN   THE   SEVEN    CHURCHES.  155 

tion  was  given."1  An  earthquake,  in  the  ninth  year  of  Nero's  reign, 
overwhelmed  both  Laodicea  and  Colossae, 2  and  the  church  at  the  latter 
place  does  not  appear  to  have  been  restored.  As  the  two  places  were 
in  close  proximity,  what  remained  of  the  church  at  Colossse  probably 
became  identified  with  the  one  at  Laodicea.  The  churches  at  Tralles 
and  Magnesia  could  not  have  been  established  until  a  considerable  time 
after  the  Apocalypse  was  written.  Those  who  contend  for  the  later 
date,  when  there  must  have  been  a  greater  number  of  churches  than 
seven  in  the  region  designated  by  the  apostle,  fail  to  give  any  sufficient 
reason  for  his  mentioning  no  more.  That  they  mystically  or  symbolic- 
ally represent  others  is  surely  not  such  a  reason. 

3.  Judaizing  Heretics  and  Enemies  Active. 

The  epistles  to  the  seven  churches  disclose  that  Judaizing  heretics 
were  exerting  a  great  influence,  and  that  there  was  vigorous  activity 
on  the  part  of  Jewish  enemies,  such  as  could  not  have  belonged  to 
these  people  subsequent  to  the  catastrophe  which  befel  their  nation  - 
The  angel  of  the  church  of  Ephesus  is  commended  (ii.  2)  for  having 
"  tried  them  which  say  they  are  apostles,  and  are  not."  "  Among  the 
properties  belonging  to  an  apostle,"  says  Bengel,  "  it  was  one  that  he 
should  have  seen  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  So  that  false  apostles  were 
persons  who  not  only  broached  false  doctrine,  but  also  set  this  forth 
with  an  apostolic  air,  as  if  they  had  seen  Christ,  or  falsely  pretended 
to  have  done  so."  It  would  have  been  too  late  in  the  reign  of 
Domitian,  when  John,  who  was  the  youngest  of  the  apostles  and  the 
only  survivor,  was  nearly  a  hundred  years  old,  for  such  a  claim  as  this 
to  be  set  up  with  any  degree  of  plausibility.  Those  to  whom  John 
refers  must  be  regarded  as  identical  in  character,  if  not  in  person,  with 
those  of  whom  Paul  complained  in  his  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinth- 
ians, and  whom  he  thus  describes :  "  for  such  are  false  apostles, 
deceitful  workers,  transforming  themselves  into  the  apostles  of  Christ," 
etc.  (xi.  13.) 

Again,  the  church  of  the  Ephesians  is  commended  for  hating  "the 
deeds  of  the  Nicolaitans  "  (ii.  6).  The  best  explanation  of  the  term 
"  Nicolaitans  "  makes  it  symbolical,  like  Balaam  (ii.  14)  and  Jezebel 
(ii.  20),  and  makes  all  these  names  apply  to  the  false  apostles  or  apo- 
states before  named,  or  the  Judaizing  heretics  that  infested  the  Church. 
There  are  insuperable  objections  to  the  derivation  of  the  name  from  a 
sectarian  called  Nicolaus,  that  is,  to  a  historical  explanation.  Balaam, 
according  to  its  etymology,  signifies  "  destroyer  of  the  people  " ;  and 

1  Dissertations,  etc.,  p.  32. 

2  Pliny,  Hist.  Nat.,  v.  41. 


156  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

Nicolaitans,  according  to  its  etymology,  is  simply  Balaainites  in  Greek. 
The  Nicolaitans,  and  those  mentioned  afterwards  as  Balaamites,  and 
the  followers  of  the  woman  Jezebel,  were  those  precisely  who  repeated 
the  sins  of  Balaam  and  Jezebel  by  becoming  tempters  of  the  people  of 
God.  They  were  the  same  troublers  to  whom  Paul  refers  (2  Cor.  ii. 
17,  xi.  4,  5,  13 ;  Gal.  i.  7,  ii.  4),  and  who  were  represented  at  a  very 
early  period  in  the  apostolic  history  as  going  down  from  Judaea  (Acts 
xv.  1),  and  causing  no  small  dissension  in  the  churches  among  the 
Gentiles,  by  teaching  that  circumcision  was  still  essential  to  salva- 
tion. It  became  necessary  for  Paul  and  Barnabas  to  go  to  Jerusalem 
and  lay  this  matter  before  the  apostles  and  elders.  The  council  that 
was  convened  sent  a  written  answer  to  Antioch  and  Syria  and  Cilicia, 
that  no  greater  burden  was  laid  upon  them  than  these  necessary  things, 
to  "  abstain  from  meats  offered  to  idols,  and  from  blood,  and  from 
things  strangled,  and  from  fornication  "  (Acts  xv.  28,  29).  Paul  had 
warned  the  elders  of  Ephesus,  when  taking  his  leave  of  them  (Acts 
xx.  29,  30),  that  he  knew  after  his  departure  "grievous  wolves"  should 
enter  in  among  them  "  not  sparing  the  flock.  Also  of  your  own  selves 
shall  men  arise,  speaking  perverse  things,  to  draw  away  disciples  after 
them."  These  words,  in  respect  to  Ephesus  and  several  of  those 
churches  addressed  in  the  Apocalypse,  were  now  fulfilled ;  the  "  griev- 
ous wolves  "  had  come ;  these  "  perverse  men  "  had  arisen. 

To  the  church  of  Pergamos  it  is  said  :  "I  have  a  few  things  against 
thee,  because  thou  hast  there  them  that  hold  the  doctrine  of  Balaam, 
who  taught  Balak  to  cast  a  stumbling-block  before  the  children  of 
Israel,  to  eat  things  sacrificed  unto  idols,  and  to  commit  fornication." 
And  to  the  church  at  Thyatira :  "I  have  a  few  things  against  thee,  be- 
cause thou  sufferest  that  woman  Jezebel,  which  calleth  herself  a 
prophetess,  to  teach  and  to  seduce  My  servants  to  commit  fornication, 
and  to  eat  things  sacrificed  unto  idols."  The  woman  Jezebel,  although 
the  name  is  symbolical,  points  also,  it  may  be,  to  some  busy  influential 
female  Judaizer  and  heretic  among  these  disturbers  of  the  peace  and 
purity  of  the  early  Church. 

It  would  seem  from  the  answer  of  the  council  at  Jerusalem  that  the 
same  class  of  false  teachers  who  insisted  on  circumcision  were  disposed 
to  encourage  a  dangerous  licence  in  respect  to  idolatrous  feasts  and  in- 
dulgence of  lascivious  passions;  for  the  same  decree  that  declared 
circumcision  to  be  unnecessary  condemned  such  licence  in  express 
terms.  There  can  certainly  be  in  such  expressions  as  these  no  allusion 
whatever  to  the  doctrines  of  those  ethnicising  seducers,  who,  at  a  sub- 
sequent period  in  the  Christian  Church,  exercised  so  pernicious  an 
influence.  They  clearly  point  to  an  earlier  period,  when  the  assault 
came  from  quite  a  different  quarter.  In  the  epistle  to  Philadelphia  the 


JERUSALEM   NOT   YET    DESTROYED.  157 

claims  of  the  Judaizing  heretics,  who  are  distinctly  described  as  "  the 
synagogue  of  Satan,  which  say  they  are  Jews  and  are  not,"  are  annihil- 
ated as  by  a  single  stroke ;  "  I,  Christ  your  Saviour,  have  the  key  of 
David,  and  open,  and  no  man  shutteth."  Again,  in  the  epistle  to 
Smyrna  it  is  said  :  "  I  know  the  blasphemy  of  them  which  say  they 
are  Jews,  and  are  not,  but  are  the  synagogue  of  Satan.  Fear  none  of 
those  things  which  thou  shalt  suffer :  behold  the  devil  shall  cast  some 
of  you  into  prison,  that  ye  may  be  tried  ;  and  ye  shall  have  tribulation 
ten  days,"  etc.  They  called  themselves  Jews,  and  no  doubt  were  by 
natural  descent  the  children  of  Abraham.  But  they  had  a  spirit  so 
malignant  that  the  synagogue  to  which  they  belonged  might  be  called 
the  synagogue  of  Satan.  The  source  of  this  persecution,  or  rather  the 
fact  that  the  Jews  were  its  zealous  agents,  points  clearly  to  a  date 
anterior  to  the  great  disaster  which  came  upon  the  Jewish  nation, 
certainly  long  anterior  to  the  time  of  Domitian.  The  Jews,  it  is  true, 
even  after  this  catastrophe,  exhibited  great  bitterness  of  spirit  against 
Christianity  ;  but  there  is  greater  power  attributed  to  them  here  than 
they  can  be  supposed  to  have  possessed  after  their  dispersion  and  ex- 
treme humiliation  by  reason  of  the  overthrow  of  their  city  and  temple. 
They  were  never  a  persecuting  power  subsequent  to  this  disastrous 
period  in  their  history. 

4.  The  Jews  still  occupying,  as  a  distinct  People,  their  own  Land. 

In  chap.  vii.  we  have  what  has  been  styled  "  the  vision  of  seal- 
ing," but  which  is  evidently  a  continuation  of  what  was  disclosed  in 
the  sixth  seal,  of  which  we  have  the  opening  in  chap.  vi.  The  tor- 
nado of  judgments  is  stayed  until  a  process  of  sealing  the  servants  of 
God  in  their  foreheads  could  be  accomplished.  "And  I  heard,"  says 
John  (vii.  4),  "  the  number  of  them  which  were  sealed,  a  hundred  and 
forty  and  four  thousand  of  all  the  tribes  of  the  children  of  Israel." 
And  then  the  tribes  are  named  one  by  one,  and  twelve  thousand  of  each 
are  sealed.  The  language  and  the  manner  in  which  the  whole  thing  is 
stated  could  hardly  more  distinctly  imply  that  the  Jewish  nation  was 
still  existing,  and  occupying  its  own  land, — a  land  exposed  to  some  im- 
pending desolation,  from  which  the  sealed,  the  one  hundred  and  forty- 
four  thousand,  were  to  be  exempt.  The  twelve  tribes  are  named, 
notwithstanding  so  many  of  them  had  been  lost,  because  the  destruc- 
tion revealed  in  connection  with  the  sealing  was  to  overtake  the  whole 
land  of  Judrea,  once  the  inheritance  of  and  partitioned  among  these 
twelve  tribes.  It  was  a  destruction  that  was  to  overtake  Judaea; 
therefore  Jewish  Christians  are  alone  selected.  Bengel  held  very 
strongly  that  Israel  is  here  spoken  of  in  the  natural  sense  and  not  in 


158  THE    LIFE   AND   WEITINGS    OF   ST.  JOHN. 

the  figurative.  "As  certainly,"  says  he,  "  as  the  tribe  of  Judah  is  that 
from  which  the  victorious  Lion,  the  Lamb,  sprung  (Apoc.  v.  5),  so  cer- 
tainly are  all  the  tribes  to  be  literally  understood."  Many  thousands, 
we  know,  had  been  converted  from  the  Jewish  to  the  Christian  faith 
(see  Acts  ii.  41,  vi.  7,  xii.  24,  xix.  20).  According  to  the  Saviour's 
own  words  (Matt.  xxiv.  22),  "  the  elect "  were  to  be  secured  or  cared 
for  in  that  day  of  calamity.  He  gave  them  a  sign,  and  when  it  should 
be  seen  they  were  to  seek  places  of  security.1  These  one  hundred  and 
forty-four  thousand  represent  either  symbolically  or  literally  the  num- 
ber of  those  gathered  out  from  among  the  Israelites,  of  whom  God 
would  never  for  a  moment  lose  sight  as  His  own,  in  the  things  that 
were  coming  on  the  earth,  and  to  whom  His  special  grace  and  provi- 
dence would  be  extended.  These  sealed  ones  appear  again  in  this 
prophecy  (xiv.  1-5)  on  Mount  Sion,  following  the  Lamb  whithersoever 
He  goeth,  and  are  there  expressly  recognised  as  "  the  first-fruits  unto 
God  and  to  the  Lamb." 

Hengstenberg  maintains  that  the  "  tribes  of  the  children  of  Israel " 
are  here  mentioned  in  the  sense  that  "  the  whole  Christian  Church, 
however  composed,  is  what  is  meant  by  them  as  being  the  legitimate 
continuation  of  ancient  Israel."  But  it  seems  strange  that  Jewish 
Christians  alone  should  be  selected  as  representing  the  whole  Church 
in  a  writing  originally  addressed  to  churches  so  remote  from  Judaea, 
and  composed  largely,  if  not  mainly,  of  Gentile  converts.  And  such  a 
designation  would  only  seem  the  more  strange  in  a  writing  the  date 
of  which  is  referred  to  a  period  some  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  sub- 
sequent to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  the  dispersion  of  the  Jews. 
But  the  view  of  Hengstenberg  is  further  shown  to  be  wholly  inadmis- 
sible, inasmuch  as  immediately  upon  the  sealing  of  the  one  hundred  and 
forty-four  thousand  of  all  the  tribes  of  the  children  of  Israel  we  have 
the  numberless  multitude2  out  of  all  nations  set  over  against  these 
sealed  ones  as  the  complete  harvest,  of  which  the  sealed  ones  are  but 
"  the  firstfruits  unto  God  and  to  the  Lamb."  The  multitude  which 
could  not  be  numbered  are  put  in  contrast  with  the  firstfruits,  the 
one  hundred  and  forty-four  thousand ;  and  the  "  all  nations  and 
kindreds  and  people  and  tongues,"  with  the -twelve  tribes  of  Israel. 

5.  The  city  of  Jerusalem  not  yet  destroyed,  and  the  Temple  still 

standing. 

When  the  Apocalypse  was  written,  as  the  book  itself  intimates,  if  it 
does  not  distinctly  state,  the  temple  was  still  standing  undisturbed, 
and  the  city  of  which  it  was  the  glory  undesolated  (see  chap.  xi.  1-13). 

1  Matt.  xxiv.  15-22.  2  Chap.  vii.  9. 


ITS   NEAE   DESTRUCTION   SYMBOLISED.  159 

John  says  there  was  given  to  him  a  reed,  and  he  was  directed  to 
measure  "the  temple  of  God,  and  the  altar";  but  "the  court  which  is 
without  the  temple  "  he  was  not  to  measure  ;  "  for  it  is  given  unto  the 
Gentiles :  and  the  holy  city  shall  they  tread  under  foot,  forty  and  two 
months."  Power  was  to  be  given  to  "  two  witnesses,"  who  should 
"  prophesy  a  thousand  two  hundred  and  threescore  days."  They 
should  then  be  killed,  and  their  dead  bodies  "  lie  in  the  street  of  the 
great  city,  which  spiritually  is  called  Sodom  and  Egypt,  where  also  our 
Lord  was  crucified."  But  their  lives  should  be  marvellously  preserved 
while  they  were  working  miracles,  and  till  their  prophecy  was  ended. 
Their  bodies,  unburied,  after  three  days  and  a  half  should  come  to 
life,  and  they  should  "ascend  to  heaven  in  a  cloud." 

It  is  difficult  to  see  how  language  could  more  clearly  point  to  Jeru- 
salem, and  to  Jerusalem  as  it  was  before  its  overthrow ;  where  were 
the  temple  of  God  and  the  altar,  where  also  our  Lord  was  crucified. 
The  prophecy  in  the  most  striking  manner  seems  to  adopt  the  very 
expression  of  our  Lord,  as  recorded  by  Luke  xxi.  24,  in  which  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  is  universally  allowed  to  be  foretold : 
"  Jerusalem  shall  be  trodden  down  of  the  Gentiles."  Regarding  the 
literal  Jerusalem  and  the  external  temple  and  altar  as  named,  and  this 
particular  prediction  as  having  reference  to  their  desolation,  it  follows 
of  course  that  this  book  must  have  been  written  prior  to  that  event. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  we  regard  the  whole  (the  city,  the  temple,  the 
altar,  as  well  as  the  measuring)  to  be  symbolical,  as  we  must  if  we 
adopt  the  later  date,  it  seems  very  strange  and  altogether  unnatural 
that  the  apostle,  in  writing  to  churches  so  remote  from  Judaaa,  gathered 
on  Gentile  soil,  should  make  use  of  such  symbols ;  and  still  more  so  if 
nearly  or  quite  a  generation  had  passed  since  that  city  with  its  temple 
had  been  destroyed.  This  interpretation  indeed  seems  too  unnatural 
to  be  admitted,  especially  where  we  have  so  much  ground  from  other 
parts  of  the  prophecy  for  the  assumption  that  the  temple  and  Jerusalem 
were  still  standing. 

The  parts  symbolical  in  the  passage  are  the  measuring  reed  and  the 
measuring,  the  two  olive  trees,  the  two  candlesticks,  and  the  beast 
ascending  out  of  the  bottomless  pit  to  make  war  against  the  witnesses. 
The  parts  that  are  literal  are  the  temple,  the  altar,  the  court  without 
the  temple,  the  holy  city  trodden  under  foot  by  the  Gentiles,  the  wit- 
nesses prophesying  forty  and  two  months,  and  the  equivalent  period, 
a  thousand  two  hundred  and  threescore  days  ;  and  that  there  might  be 
no  doubt  as  to  the  city  intended,  it  is  described  as  the  city  "  where  our 
Lord  was  crucified." 

The  measuring  reed  and  the  measuring  are  here  symbolical  of 
destruction.  In  previous  visitations  or  threatenings  of  evil  on  the 


160  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OP   ST.  JOHN. 

holy  city  we  find  analogous  figures  employed.  "  I  will  stretch  over 
Jerusalem  the  line  of  Samaria,  and  the  plummet  of  the  house  of  Ahab  " 
(2  Kings  xxi.  12,  13).  "  Behold,  I  will  set  a  plumbline  in  the  midst 
of  My  people  Israel,  .  .  .  and  the  high  places  of  Isaac  shall  be 
desolate,  and  the  sanctuaries  of  Israel  shall  be  laid  waste,"  etc.  (Amos 
vii.  8,  9 ;  see  also  Isa.  xxxiv.  11,  Lam.  ii.  8.)  In  such  passages  as 
these,  in  which  the  very  implements  made  use  of  in  construction  are 
employed  as  symbols  of  demolition,  we  have  ample  authority  for  the 
meaning  attached  here  to  the  measuring  reed  and  the  measuring.  1 1 
was  to  be  applied  to  the  temple,  the  altar,  and  them  that  worship 
therein ;  that  is,  these  holy  places  were  to  be  overthrown,  and  the 
worship  connected  with  them  brought  to  an  end.  The  direction  to 
leave  out  and  not  to  measure  the  court  without  the  temple  may  denote 
that  this  court  and  all  that  lay  outside  of  the  temple  proper  was  not  in 
the  same  sense  holy ;  it  was  the  court  of  the  Gentiles,  to  which  they 
already  had  access.  The  consecrated  temple  and  altar  were  not  to  be 
permitted  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  uncircumcised.  God  would 
save  them  from  such  dishonour  by  their  destruction  ;  and  the  worship 
peculiar  to  the  temple  would  pass  away,  never  more  to  be  reinstated. 
Hence  we  see  perhaps  the  propriety  of  employing  the  implements  of 
construction  here  as  symbols.  The  destruction  was  in  order  to  save 
consecrated  things.  The  Roman  general  found  it  impossible,  although 
he  made  the  most  strenuous  efforts,  to  rescue  the  temple.1  Titus 
gave  orders  to  demolish  the  whole  city,  except  three  towers  and  that 
portion  of  the  wall  which  inclosed  the  city  on  the  west  side.  The  towers 
were  preserved,  to  prove  to  posterity  how  strongly  fortified  a  city  had 
been  subdued  ;  and  the  wall  to  afford  a  camp  for  the  garrison  he  was 
to  leave  behind.  The  rest  of  the  wall "  was  so  thoroughly  laid  even 
with  the  ground  [to  use  the  language  of  Josephus,  as  if  he  had  written 
with  the  very  words  of  our  Lord's  prediction,  Luke  xix.  44,  present 
to  his  mind]  by  those  that  dug  it  up  to  the  foundation,  that  there  was 
left  nothing  to  make  those  that  came  thither  believe  that  it  had  ever 
been  inhabited."2  The  worship  peculiar  to  the  temple,  the  great 
national  religious  observances  to  which  the  whole  people  went  up, 
passed  away,  never  more  to  be  celebrated  on  Mount  Sion. 

As  to  the  times  or  periods  specified  in  the  passage,  there  is  no 
difficulty  in  making  out,  in  accordance  with  the  application  or  interpre- 
tation suggested,  a  literal  fulfilment.  Vespasian  appears  to  have  re- 
ceived his  commission  from  Nero,  i.e.  the  war  was  declared,3  in  the  early 
part  of  February,  A.D.  67 ;  three  years  and  six  months  after,  namely 
the  tenth  of  August,  A.D.  70,  Jerusalem  was  destroyed.  Here  then  we 

1  Josephus,  Wars,  vi.  4  (6,  7).  2  Wars,  vii.  1  (1). 

3  See  Lardner,  Jew.  Test.,  §  viii. 


THE    TWO  WITNESSES.  '161 

have  the  "  forty  and  two  months,"  or  the  equivalent  period,  "  twelve 
hundred  and  sixty  days,"  during  which,  understanding  "  the  holy  city  " 
by  a  common  figure  of  speech  as  representing  the  entire  Holy  Land, 
that  land  was  to  be  laid  waste  by  the  Gentiles.  It  is  a  striking  confirm- 
ation of  the  literal  interpretation  which  has  been  given  to  the  temple 
and  altar  in  this  passage,  and  from  which  we  necessarily  infer  the 
earlier  date  of  the  book,  that  from  this  point  in  the  prophecy  they 
entirely  disappear,  and  no  more  recur  in  the  book.  Immediately  upon 
the  overthrow  of  the  city  where  our  Lord  was  crucified,  the  temple,  in 
the  remaining  part  of  the  prophecy,  in  the  visions  and  pictures  by  which 
it  is  unfolded  before  the  apostle's  mind,  is  treated  as  if  it  had  already 
passed  away,  had  been  transferred  from  earth  to  heaven;1  until  in  the 
final  vision,  that  of  New  Jerusalem,  it  disappears  even  there.  "  I  saw  no 
temple  therein."2  This  vision  of  the  New  Jerusalem  very  significantly 
forms  the  bright  and  cheering  close  to  a  prophecy  of  which  the  earlier 
part  relates  to  the  destruction  of  the  old,  the  earthly  Jerusalem. 

As  to  the  witnesses,  it  is  in  this  interpretation  supposed  that  there 
were  precisely  two.  The  two  were  enough  to  perform  the  work  to 
which  God  had  called  them.  If  we  had  a  Christian  history  extant,  as 
we  have  a  pagan  one  by  Tacitus,  and  a  Jewish  one  by  Josephus, 
giving  an  account  of  what  occurred  within  that  devoted  city  during 
that  awful  period  of  its  history,  then  we  might  trace  out  more  dis- 
tinctly the  prophesying  of  the  two  witnesses.  The  great  body  of 
Christians,  warned  by  the  signs  given  them  by  their  Lord,  according  to 
ancient  testimony,  appear  to  have  left  Palestine  on  its  invasion  by  the 
Romans.  After  the  retreat  of  Gallus  from  Jerusalem,  and  the  disasters 
he  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  Jews,  "  many  of  the  most  eminent 
Jews,"  to  use  the  words  of  Josephus,  "  swam  away  from  the  city  as 
from  a  ship  when  it  was  going  to  sink."3  Perhaps  John,  the  writer  of 
the  Apocalypse,  took  his  departure  at  this  time.  But  it  was  the  will 
of  God  that  a  competent  number  of  witnesses  for  Christ  should  remain 
to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  very  last  moment  to  their  deluded,  miser- 
able countrymen.  It  may  have  been  part  of  their  work  to  reiterate  the 
prophecies  respecting  the  destruction  of  the  city,  the  temple,  and  com- 
monwealth.4 During  the  time  the  Romans  were  to  tread  down  the 
Holy  Land  and  the  city,  they  were  to  prophesy.  Their  being  clothed  in ' 
sackcloth  intimates  the  mournful  character  of  their  mission.  In  their 
designation  as  the  two  olive  trees  and  the  two  candlesticks  or  lamps 
standing  before  God,  there  is  an  allusion  to  Zechariah  iv.,  where  these 

1  Chap.  xi.  19  ;  xiv.  17  ;  xv.  5,  6,  8  ;  xiv.  1,  17. 

2  Chap.  xxi.  22. 

3  Wars,  ii.  20  (1). 

4  Commentaries  of  Daubuz,  Lowman,  Wetstein,  and  Stuart. 

M 


162  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OP   ST.  JOHN. 

symbols  are  interpreted  of  the  two  anointed  ones,  Joshua  the  high-priest, 
and  Zerubbabel  the  prince,  founder  of  the  second  temple.  The  olive 
trees,  fresh  and  vigorous,  keep  the  lamps  constantly  supplied  with  oil. 
These  witnesses,  amidst  the  darkness  which  has  settled  round  Jeru- 
salem, give  a  steady  and  unfailing  light.  They  possessed  the  power  of 
working  miracles  as  wonderful  as  any  of  those  performed  by  Moses 
and  Elijah.  What  is  here  predicted  must  have  been  fulfilled  before  the 
close  of  the  miraculous  or  apostolic  age.  All  who  find  here  a  predic- 
tion of  the  state  of  the  Church  during  the  ascendancy  of  the  papacy,  or 
at  any  period  subsequent  to  the  age  of  the  apostles,  are  of  course  under 
the  necessity  of  explaining  away  all  this  language  which  attributes 
miraculous  powers  to  the  witnesses.  They  were  at  length  to  fall 
victims  to  the  war,  or  to  the  same  power  that  waged  the  war,  and 
their  bodies  were  to  lie  unburied  three  days  and  a  half  in  the  streets  of 
the  city  where  Christ  was  crucified.  Their  resurrection  and  ascension 
to  heaven,  like  their  death  and  lying  without  burial,  must  be  inter- 
preted literally ;  although,  as  in  the  case  of  the  miracles  they  per- 
formed, there  is  no  historical  record  of  the  events  themselves.  If  these 
two  prophets  were  the  only  Christians  in  Jerusalem,  as  both  were 
killed  there  was  no  one  to  make  a  record  or  report  in  the  case,  and  we 
have  here  therefore  an  example  of  a  prophecy  which  contains  at  the 
same  time  the  only  history  or  notice  of  the  events  by  which  it  was 
fulfilled.  The  wave  of  ruin  which  swept  over  Jerusalem,  and  wafted 
them  up  to  heaven,  erased  or  prevented  every  human  memento  of  their 
work  of  faith,  their  patience  of  hope,  and  labour  of  love.  The  prophecy 
that  foretold  them  is  their  only  history,  or  the  only  history  of  the  part 
they  were  to  take  in  the  closing  scenes  of  Jerusalem.  We  conclude 
then  that  these  witnesses  were  two  of  those  apostles  who  seem  to  be  so 
strangely  lost  to  history,  or  of  whom  no  authentic  traces  can  be  dis- 
covered subsequent  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  May  not  James 
the  less  or  the  second  James  (in  distinction  from  the  brother  of  John), 
commonly  styled  the  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  have  been  one  of  them  ? 
Why  should  he  not  remain  faithful  at  his  post  to  the  last  ?  According 
to  Hegesippus,  a  Jewish  Christian  historian,  who  wrote  about  the 
middle  of  the  second  century,  his  monument  was  still  pointed  out  near 
the  ruins  of  the  temple.  Hegesippus  says  that  he  was  killed  in  the 
year  69,  and  represents  the  apostle  as  bearing  powerful  testimony  to 
the  Messiahship  of  Jesus,  and  pointing  to  His  second  coming  in  the 
clouds  of  heaven,  up  to  the  very  moment  of  his  death.  '  There  seems  to 
be  a  peculiar  fitness  in  these  witnesses  for  Christ,  men  endowed  with 
the  highest  supernatural  gifts,  standing  to  the  last  in  that  forsaken 
city,  prophesying  its  doom,  and  lamenting  over  what  was  once  so 
dear  to  God. 


MISTAKEN   INTERPRETATIONS.  163 

The  main,  if  not  the  only  argument  of  Hengstenberg,  against  the 
view  here  presented  of  the  passage  in  the  eleventh  chapter,  in  support 
of  the  later  date  which  he  advocates,  is  founded  on  what  appears  to  be 
a  very  singular  interpretation.  He  makes  the  import  of  the  measuring 
to  be  preservation :  "  where  the  measuring  ceases,  there,"  he  says, 
"the  line  of  abandoning  begins."  In  other  words,  what  was  measured 
(the  temple,  the  altar,  etc.)  were  to  be  preserved ;  and  what  was  not 
measured  was  to  be  destroyed.  It  is  on  the  ground  of  an  interpret- 
ation such  as  this  that  he  objects  to  that  view  of  the  passage  which 
finds  in  it  proof  that  the  book  was  composed  before  the  taking  of 
Jerusalem.  He  devotes  several  pages  to  a  protest  which  it  will  be 
seen  was  labour  lost,  when  it  is  understood  that  John,  by  the  symbol  of 
measuring,  meant  destruction  and  not  preservation.  Hengstenberg, 
making  the  measuring  a  symbol  of  preservation,  considers  the  temple 
as  a  symbol  of  the  Church,  and  the  altar  a  symbol  of  that  free-will 
sacrifice  by  which  believers  present  themselves  to  Him  who  redeemed 
them  with  His  blood,  and  the  outer  court  as  denoting  those  who  have 
not  been  reached,  or  are  only  superficially  affected,  by  the  spirit  of  the 
Church.  He  makes  everything  symbolical.  "  Spiritually,"  he  says, 
is  to  be  applied,  not  only  to  Egypt  and  Sodom,  but  to  the  expression 
"where  also  our  Lord  was  crucified";  and  that  Jerusalem  is  here 
intended  to  denote  the  Church  as  degenerate  on  account  of  the 
ascendancy  of  the  world,  and  filled  with  offences,  thus  crucifying  the 
Lord  afresh.  He  makes  the  whole  prophecy  here,  if  not  "to  swim  in 
the  air,"  to  use  one  of  his  own  favourite  expressions,  to  sink  out  of 
sight ;  for  he  makes  it  to  mean  simply  the  preservation  of  the  Church 
and  its  worship.  No  events  are  foretold ;  it  is  nothing  more  than  a 
re-affirmation,  in  highly  figurative  language,  of  the  promise  that  God 
will  ever  have  a  seed  to  serve  Him. 

Another  interpretation  makes  this  prediction  relate  to  what  will 
befall  the  restored  temple  and  the  rebuilt  Jerusalem,  for  which  those 
who  adopt  it  are  looking  in  the  future.  They  hold  that  the  Jerusalem 
of  Palestine  is  yet  to  know  a  splendour  and  magnificence  becoming 
the  metropolis  of  the  Christian  world;  and  that  a  third  temple,  sur- 
passing the  first  and  second,  is  to  be  erected,  and  the  Jews  are  to  form 
a  sort  of  spiritual  nobility  in  the  Church.  Mr.  D.  N".  Lord,  one  of  the 
ablest  of  the  millenarian  writers,  however,  adopts  a  view  more  nearly 
resembling  that  of  Hengstenberg.  He  makes  the  great  and  peculiar 
truths  of  the  Scriptures  proclaimed  by  the  Reformers  to  be  symbolised 
by  the  temple,  the  altar,  and  the  offerers  of  worship;  and  the  outer 
court  generally  to  be  occupied  by  apostates.  Dr.  Croly  and  Mr. 
Barnes  present  a  very  similar  view. 


164  THE   LIFE  AND   WRITINGS   OP   ST.  JOHN. 

6.  The  Sixth  cf  the  Roman  Emperors  on  the  Throne. 

The  book  of  Revelation,  according  to  its  own  representation,  was 
written  or  its  visions  seen  during  the  reign  of  the  sixth  of  the  kings  or 
emperors  of  Rome.  In  chap.  xvii.  is  a  passage  which  professedly 
explains  the  mystery  of  the  beast  having  seven  heads  and  ten  horns, 
on  which  sat  the  woman  who  was  arrayed  in  purple  and  scarlet. 
"  The  seven  heads  are  seven  mountains,  on  which  the  woman  sitteth. 
And  there  are  seven  kings  :  five  are  fallen,  and  one  is,  and  the  other  is 
not  yet  come  ;  and  when  he  cometh,  he  must  continue  a  short  space. 
And  the  beast  that  was,  and  is  not,  even  he  is  the  eighth,  and  is  of  the 
seven,  and  goeth  into  perdition."  But  see  the  entire  passage,  verses 
7-12. 

That  Rome  is  here  intended  there  can  be  no  mistake.  It  is  dis- 
tinctly said  that  the  seven  heads  of  the  beast  symbolise  "  the  seven 
mountains  on  which  the  woman  sitteth  " ;  that  is,  the  seven  hills  on 
which  Rome  was  built.  And  as  little  room  is  there  for  mistake  in  the 
words,  "  And  there  are  seven  kings ;  five  are  fallen,  one  is,  and  the 
other  is  not  yet  come."  That  the  line  or  succession  of  emperors  is 
here  meant,  and  not  the  primitive  kings  of  Rome,  is  certain  from  the 
connection  of  the  "five  "  who  have  "fallen"  with  the  one  "who  is," 
the  one  then  reigning,  and  with  the  one  who  is  to  "  come,"  that  is,  his 
successor.  We  have  then  only  to  reckon  the  succession  of  emperors, 
and  we  must  arrive  with  certainty  at  the  reign  under  which  the  Apo- 
calypse was  written  or  was  seen.  If  we  begin  with  Julius  Caasar,  it 
stands  thus :  CsDsar,  Augustus,  Tiberius,  Caligula,  Claudius ;  these 
make  up  the  five  who  have  fallen.  "One  is;"  Nero.  The  ancients, 
although  the  empire  was  not  fully  established  till  the  time  of  Augus- 
tus, reckoned  from  Julius  Caesar.  He  had  been  declared  perpetual 
dictator,  and  had  concentrated  sovereign  power  in  his  hands.  Josephus 
calls  Augustus  the  second  emperor  of  Rome,  and  Tiberius  the  third.1 
"And  the  other  is  not  yet  come ;  and  when  he  cometh  he  must  con- 
tinue a  short  space."  Galba,  who  reigned  seven  months,  makes  the 
seventh.  The  context,  "  the  beast  that  was,  and  is  not,  and  yet  is  " 
(ver.  8),  strikingly  describes  Nero  by  alluding  to  the  popular  belief  that, 
after  disappearing  for  a  time,  that  emperor  would  reappear,  as  if  he 
had  risen  from  the  dead.  And  again  in  the  words,  "  and  the  beast 
that  was  and  is  not,  even  he  is  the  eighth,  and  is  of  the  seven,  and 
goeth  into  perdition."  Had  the  expectation  in  regard  to  Nero,  that 
after  disappearing  for  a  time  he  would  come  again,  been  fulfilled,  he 
would  have  been  the  eighth ;  and  he  might  also  be  said  to  be  the 
seventh,  as  his  successor  Galba  is  generally  reckoned  as  one  of  the 

1  Antiq.  xviii.  2  (2). 


THE   SIXTH   EMPEROK.  165 

mock  emperors.  This  popular  belief  in  regard  to  Nero  was  founded 
on  a  prediction  of  the  soothsayers  in  the  early  part  of  his  reign.  Ac- 
cordingly, after  his  death  several  impostors  appeared,  professing  to  be 
Nero  ;  and  there  were  not  wanting  those  who,  in  full  expectation  of  his 
return  and  recovery  of  power,  "adorned  his  tomb  with  spring  and 
summer  flowers,"1  with  the  hope  doubtless  of  thus  ingratiating 
themselves  into  his  favour.  It  appears  from  numerous  sources,  Jewish 
as  well  as  pagan,  that  there  was  a  widespread  expectation  of  Nero's 
return.2 

To  harmonize  this  passage  with  the  theory  which  refers  the  time  of 
the  Apocalypse  to  the  reign  of  Domitian,  it  has  been  maintained  that 
the  seven  kings  represent  the  seven  hills  of  Rome,  merely  to  character- 
ize them  as  kingly  or  princely  hills.  The  ten  horns  are  said  to  repre- 
sent the  number  of  sovereigns  that  had  ruled  in  Rome.  That  five  of 
her  seven  kings  (which  are  so  many  magnificent  hills)  are  fallen,  and 
one  is,  and  the  other  is  not  yet  come,  etc.,  merely  represents  the  con- 
dition of  Rome  as  "  not  having  reached  its  acme  in  external  greatness, 
but  nevertheless  wasting  away  in  its  internal  strength."  Others,  who 
for  the  most  part  have  held  to  the  same  interpretation,  have  departed 
from  it  in  some  particulars,  understanding  by  "  the  beast  that  was,  and 
is  not,  and  yet  is,"  the  Roman  empire,  idolatrous  under  the  heathen 
emperors,  then  ceasing  to  be  for  some  time  under  the  Christian  em- 
perors, and  then  becoming  idolatrous  again  under  the  Roman  pontiffs ; 
and  by  the  ten  horns  the  ten  kingdoms  into  which  the  Roman  empire 
is  represented  as  divided  after  it  became  Christian. 

"  The  seven  hills  of  Rome,"  says  Hengstenberg,  "  could  only  be 
pointed  to  as  a  symbol  of  the  seven-formed  worldly  power."  "  Of  the 
seven  kings  mentioned,  five  belong  to  the  period  already  past ;  and  of 
the  two  others  one  appeared  at  the  time  then  present  on  the  stage  of 
history,  and  the  other  had  still  not  entered  on  it.  The  five  kings,  or 
worldly  kingdoms,  that  had  already  fallen  at  the  time  of  the  seer,  are 
the  kings  of  Egypt,  Assyria,  Babylon,  Persia,  Greece.  The  one  that 
is,  accordingly,  must  be  the  sixth  great  monarchy,  the  Roman,  for  it 
was  this  that  was  in  existence  at  the  time  of  the  seer.  With  the 
seventh  phase  of  the  ungodly  power  of  the  world,  the  beast  goes  also, 
into  perdition,  the  heathen  state  generally  comes  to  an  end." 

"The  scene,"  says  Mr.  Lord,  "was  the  site  of  Rome.  The  seven 
heights  were  the  seven  hills  of  the  city,  and  they  were  symbols  of  the 
seven  kinds  of  rulers  who  exercised  the  government  of  the  ancient 
empire."  All  seem  to  agree  that  Rome  is  meant.  But  those  who 
understand  the  prophecy  to  mean  kingdoms  or  dynasties,  when  it  says 

1  "  Vernis  sestivisque  floribus ttinmhim  ejus  ornarent."— Suet.,  §  57. 

2  Prof.  Stuart's  Commentary,  ii. ,  pp.  434  seq. 


166  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

"kings,"  assign  no  good  reason  for  an  interpretation  by  which  they 
give  scope  to  the  utmost  latitude  of  speculation  in  the  application  of 
the  prophecy.  The  comparison  of  these  interpretations  with  that 
which  makes  the  sixth  ruler,  then  ruling,  the  emperor  Nero,  leaves  no 
room  for  choice  to  a  mind  uncommitted  to  some  favourite  theory  re- 
quiring a  later  date. 

We  therefore  conclude  that  a  reader  of  the  Apocalypse,  without  pre- 
possessions as  to  the  date,  consulting  the  book  itself  as  a  witness  on 
this  point,  cannot  fail  to  come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  written 
before  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  in  the  reign  of  Nero,  the  sixth  in 
succession  to  Julius  Caesar  in  the  empire  of  Rome. 

The  precise  year  of  our  Lord,  probably,  cannot  be  ascertained.  It 
is  not  easy  to  determine  the  exact  time  when  John  left  Judaea  and  took 
up  his  abode  in  Ephesus.  We  infer  that  he  was  not  yet  in  that  city 
when  Paul  was  there  (A.D.  58  or  59),  as  there  is  no  allusion  to  him  in 
the  scene  recorded  in  Acts  xx.  17,  and  an  allusion  could  not  have  been 
avoided  had  he  been  there.  And  yet  afterwards,  when  Paul  reached 
Jerusalem,  as  would  appear  from  Acts  xxi.  and  Galatians  i.  19,  he  did 
not  find  John  there.  This  may  have  been  but  a  temporary  absence ;  we, 
however,  infer  from  all  the  facts  that  can  be  gathered  in  the  case,  that  not 
long  after  Paul's  farewell  address  to  the  elders  of  Ephesus  John  ar- 
rived, and  took  up  his  abode  in  that  city.  He  was  probably  one  of  the 
earliest,  being  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  the  disciples  and  apostles 
of  the  Lord,  who  felt  the  persecution  which  commenced  under  Nero 
(A.D.  64),  when  it  reached  Ephesus.  If  we  fix  upon  A.D.  64  or  A.D.  68, 
or  one  of  the  intermediate  years,  as  the  date  of  the  Apocalypse,  it 
makes  little  or  no  difference,  as  the  destruction  to  which  so  consider- 
able a  portion  of  the  prophecy  relates  would  still  be  at  hand,  even  at 
the  doors.  Or  if  we  suppose  that  John  did  not  leave  Judaea  till  after 
the  war  was  declared,  A.D.  67,  and  that  he  was  sent  to  Patmos  almost 
immediately  on  his  arrival  at  Ephesus,  it  only  brings  the  catastrophe 
he  predicts  still  nearer.  In  its  very  title  his  prophecy  professes  to  be 
a  revelation  of  "things  which  must  shortly  come  to  pass."  The  ful- 
filment was  in  the  immediate  future.  This  is  repeated  again  and  again 
(ii.  15,  16;  iii.  11;  xi.  14;  xvi.  15;  xxii.  7,  12,  20).  A  very  large 
part  of  the  book  was  to  be  speedily  fulfilled ;  and  although  a  part  of  it 
related  to  the  distant  future,  and  some  of  it  to  scenes  and  events  fol- 
lowing the  end  of  the  world,  yet  the  "  shortly  "  and  "  I  come  quickly  " 
never  lose  their  appropriateness  and  significance  as  the  very  key  of 
this  book.  The  complete  argument  for  the  early  date,  from  internal 
evidence,  can  only  be  found  in  the  full  exposition  of  the  book,  showing 
that  while  it  has  its  starting  point  in  the  state  of  things  existing  at 
the  time  it  was  written,  it  progresses  in  the  order  of  history  from  that 


THE    SEVEN   EPISTLES.  167 

point  until  every  antichristian  power  is  overthrown,  and  the  consum- 
mation is  reached  in  the  New  Jerusalem  coming  down  from  God  out 
of  heaven,  and  the  new  heaven  and  the  new  earth.  Such  an  exposition 
will  show,  for  example,  a  most  remarkable  coincidence  between  the 
first  six  seals,  viewed  as  premonitions  of  the  great  catastrophe,  and  the 
signs  of  this  catastrophe  as  foretold  by  our  Saviour  (Matt,  xxiv.,  Luke 
xxi.).  And  so  striking  an  instance  of  Scripture  interpreting  Scripture 
ought  not  perhaps  to  have  been  omitted  in  that  cumulative  proof  in- 
volved in  the  very  nature  of  the  question  under  consideration. 

No  INTERNAL  EVIDENCE  FAVOUBING  THE  LATER  DATE. 

So  clear  is  the  internal  evidence  in  favour  of  the  earlier  date  of  the 
Apocalypse.  And  no  evidence  can  be  drawn  from  any  part  of  the  book 
favouring  the  later  date  so  commonly  assigned  to  it.  Some,  it  is  true, 
have  thought  they  had  found  internal  marks  inconsistent  with  the 
earlier  date  in  the  state  of  the  seven  churches  in  Asia,  as  inferred 
from  the  special  epistles  addressed  to  them  contained  in  the  Apoca- 
lypse.1 With  a  considerable  degree  of  certainty,  considering  the  in- 
herent difficulty  which  belongs  to  the  chronology  of  the  Acts,  taking 
the  Claudian  decree  2  in  A.D.  51  (requiring  Jews  to  leave  Rome)  as  the 
starting  point,  we  learn  that  Christianity  was  first  introduced  at 
Ephesus  in  A.D.  53  or  54,  and  that  near  the  close  of  the  last  named 
year  there  had  been  gathered  there,  under  the  labours  of  Paul,  Aquila 
and  Priscilla,  and  Apollos,  a  church,  "  the  men,"  or  male  members,  of 
which  numbered  twelve.3  If  we  suppose  that  John  wrote  the  Apo- 
calypse somewhere  between  A.D.  64  and  A.D.  68,  these  churches  had  been 
in  existence  at  least  some  ten  or  twelve  years,  a  sufficient  length  of 
time,  considering  that  most  of  them  no  doubt  were  converts  from 
heathenism,  for  them  to  have  undergone  all  the  changes  to  be  inferred 
from  these  epistles.  The  church  of  Smyrna  is  represented  as  troubled 
with  false  apostles.  The  church  of  Pergamos  had  such  as  held  the 
doctrine  of  Balaam.  The  church  of  Thyatira  had  some  who  suffered 
the  woman  Jezebel  to  teach  and  seduce  the  people.  And  so  on.  Only 
the  church  of  Philadelphia  had  nothing  laid  to  her  charge.  But  we 
find  in  the  Epistles  of  the  other  apostles  the  churches  in  general,  which 
were  no  older,  troubled  with  precisely  the  same  evils.  See  Paul's 
Epistles  to  the  Corinthians,  passim,  and  his  Second  Epistle  to  Timothy, 
in  which  he  sorely  complains  of  some  who  were  called  Christians,  and 
mentions  several  who  were  of  the  churches  of  Asia:  Demas,  Alexander, 

1  See  Dissertation  in  Woodhouse's  Apocalypse  Translated. 

2  Acts  xviii.  2. 

3  Acts  xviii.,  xix. 


168  THE   LIFE   AND  WEITINGS  OP   ST.  JOHN. 

Hermogenes,  and  Philetus.  Peter  wrote  against  those  who  held  the 
doctrine  of  Balaam.  Jude  did  the  same.  Lardner  assigns  Jude's 
Epistle  to  A.D.  64  or  65.  Bat  the  exhortations  of  Paul  in  his  Epistle 
to  one  of  these  seven  churches,  that  of  Ephesus,1  to  put  away 
from  them  bitterness,  wrath,  anger,  clamour,  evil  speaking,  malice,  and 
even  stealing,  as  much  imply  a  departure  from  their  first  love  as  the 
exhortations  in  the  epistle  to  them  in  the  Apocalypse  imply  such  a  de- 
parture. And  Paul,  in  writing  to  Timothy  in  his  First  Epistle,  be- 
seeches him  to  abide  at  Ephesus.  And  for  what  purpose  ?  That  he 
might  charge  some  that  they  teach  no  other  doctrine ;  and  he  speaks 
of  some  as  having  swerved  from  sound  doctrine,  and  turned  aside  to 
vain  jangling  (1  Tim.  i.  6).  There  is  nothing  in  any  of  the  epistles  to 
the  seven  churches  which  indicates  a  more  serious  charge.  Instead  of 
these  epistles  affording  any  internal  evidence  unfavourable  to  the  earlier 
date  claimed  for  the  Apocalypse,  it  has  already  been  shown  that  there 
are  features  about  them  wholly  inconsistent  with  referring  the  book  to 
a  date  so  late  as  the  time  of  Domitian. 

MAIN  GROUND  IN  SUPPORT  OF  THE  LATER  DATE. 

With  all  this  clear  evidence  from  the  book  itself  in  favour  of  an 
early  date,  it  may  be  asked  how  it  has  happened  that  so  many  have  ac- 
cepted, or  seemed  to  take  for  granted,  the  later  date.  It  has  been  sup- 
posed the  external  testimony  required  it.  Irena3us,  who  lived  so  near 
the  apostolic  age,  has  been  interpreted  as  declaring  that  the  Apocalypse 
was  seen  by  John  near  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Domitian.  The  passage 
occurs  in  a  chapter  of  his  work  against  heresies,2  the  object  of  which 
is  to  show  that  nothing  should  be  affirmed  rashly  in  interpreting  the 
number  666,  in  the  passage  Rev.  xiii.  18,  inasmuch  as  it  may  be  made  to 
agree  with  so  many  names.  He  has  been  understood  in  this  connection 
as  recording  his  opinion  that  the  Revelation  was  seen  near  the  end  of 
Domitian's  reign.  The  passage  is  as  follows :  'H/zely  ovv  OVK  dTroKivdwcvo- 

pcv  irepl  TOV  ovopaTOS  TOV  'AirixpiOToC  aTro(j)aiv6fj.fvoi  /3e/3aiamKa>s,  el  yap  e'Set 
dvatyavobv  T£  vvv  Katp<£  KrjpvTTeo-flai  TO  ovopa  avro€,  Si  cueivov  av  eppeOrj  TOV  KOI 
Tr]V  ' AnoKaXvfyiv  eeopaKoro?  *  ovoe  yap  Trpb  TTO\\OV  xpovov  ecopdBr],  aXXa  c^eSou  67TI 
TTJS  fjpcTepas  yevcas,  irpbs  T$  reXet  TT)S  Ao/irriai/ov  dpxrjs.  "In  regard  to  the 
name  of  Antichrist,  we  do  not  therefore  run  the  risk  of  speaking  posi- 
tively ;  for,  if  it  were  necessary  at  present  to  proclaim  distinctly  his 
name,  it  would  have  been  done  by  him  who  also  saw  the  Apocalypse ; 
for  it  is  not  a  long  time  ago  [he,  or  John  himself]  was  seen,  but  almost 
in  our  generation  near  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Domitian." 

1  Written,  according  to  Wieseler,  A.D.  61  or  62,  ChronoL,  p.  455. 

2  Adv.  Hseres.,  v.  30. 


TESTIMONY   OF   IREN^US.  169 


It  will  be  observed  that  fapdffri  has  no  nominative  expressed.  If 
'ATroKaAv^ts  is  to  be  supplied,  then  it  is  evident  that  the  testimony  of 
Irenseus  is  that  the  Revelation  was  seen  near  the  end  of  the  reign  of 
Domitian.  But  if  'Icoaw/y  is  taken  as  the  subject,  then  Irenseus  simply 
says  :  "  For  it  was  not  a  long  time  ago  he  was  seen,  but  almost  in  our 
day,  near  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Domitian."  And  of  course  his 
authority  cannot  be  adduced  in  support  of  the  later  date,  as  the 
assertion  that  John  was  seen,  that  is,  was  alive,  near  the  close  of 
Domitian's  reign,  does  not  by  any  means  prove  that  this  book  was 
written  at  that  time.  It  is  admitted  that  the  application  of  this  verb 
to  the  man  who  had  seen  the  vision  appears  somewhat  unusual  ;  and 
that  it  is  used  just  above  in  the  active  voice,  of  the  vision  itself,  which 
makes  the  transition  to  the  seer  somewhat  sudden.  But  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  chapter  Irenseus,  beyond  all  doubt,  applies  the  same  verb 
to  John  himself.  His  words  are  :  *Ev  7rd<ri  rots  a-rrovdaiois  KCU  dpxaiots 
dvTiypd(f)ois  TOV  dpiOpov  TOVTOV  Kctpfvov,  KOL  fiapnipovvruv  avrwv  c'/ati/cop  Ttov  K.O.T 
fyiv  TOV  'ladwrjv  e'copaKorcoi/,  K.-r.X.  "  In  all  the  best  and  oldest  manuscripts 
this  number  is  found,  and  those  themselves  seeing  John  in  the  face 
bear  testimony,"  etc.  ;  that  is,  in  favour  of  the  reading  666,  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  other  reading  616. 

Again,  the  scope  of  the  entire  passage  is  to  assign  a  reason  why  it 
was  not  necessary,  at  the  time  Irenaeus  wrote,  for  it  certainly  to  be 
known  who  was  pointed  out  by  the  number  "  Six  hundred  threescore 
and  six."  He  argues  that  if  this  knowledge  had  been  important  at 
that  time  it  would  have  been  communicated  by  the  writer  of  the 
Apocalypse,  who  lived  so  near  their  own  time  that  he  might  almost  be 
said  to  be  of  their  generation.  There  was  therefore  really  no  ambiguity 
to  be  avoided,  requiriog  him  to  use  the  name  of  John  or  the  personal 
pronoun  as  the  subject  of  fwpddr),  the  verb  of  sight.  The  scope  requires 
this  nominative  and  no  other. 

There  was,  moreover,  something  about  John,  considering  his  great 
age,  and  the  deep  interest  which  the  Church  had  in  him  as  surviving 
apostle,  which  makes  the  verb  cvpddr)  peculiarly  appropriate.  To  say 
of  one  "  he  was  seen,"  meaning  thereby  he  was  alive  at  a  certain  time, 
might  seem  unusual,  whether  in  Greek  or  English,  as  applied  to  an 
ordinary  man.  When  we  consider,  however,  how  much  would  be 
thought  of  seeing  this  most  aged  apostle  who  had  seen  the  Lord,  there 
is  nothing  unnatural  in  the  use  of  such  an  expression.  In  fact  this 
verb  is  applied  to  him  in  precisely  the  same  sense  in  the  beginning  of 
the  chapter. 

Wetstein  understood  John  to  be  the  nominative  of  e'wpa&j.  The 
ancient  translator  of  Irenaeus  renders  it  visum  est;  ?'.e.,  TO  8r)ptov  the 
beast  was  seen  ;  so  also  Storr.  Guericke,  in  his  "  Introduction  to  the 


170  TEE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OP   ST.  JOHN. 

New  Testament"  (1843)  retracts  his  former  opinion  in  favour  of  the 
later  date,  and  although  he  understands  '  Airoicdkv^is  as  the  subject  of 
fu>pd6r),  suggests  that  Ao/uertai/ov,  being  without  the  article,  is  not  a 
proper  name,  but  an  adjective,  belonging,  in  accordance  with  the  Greek 
formation,  not  to  Domitian  (which  would  make  an  adjective  of  the 
form  Ao//mai>iKo's),  but  to  Domitius,  which  was  Nero's  name,  Domitius 
Nero.  This  would  make  Irenaeus  testify  to  the  fact  that  the  Apo- 
calypse was  written  near  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Nero.  But  as 
Irenaeus  was  merely  assigning  a  reason  why  it  was  not  necessary  for  it 
to  be  known  at  the  time  he  wrote  what  name  was  pointed  out  by  the 
number  in  question,  (or  it  would  have  been  communicated  by  John 
himself,)  it  seems  utterly  foreign  to  his  design  to  say  anything  respect- 
ing the  time  when  the  Apocalypse  was  seen  or  written,  whether  under 
Nero  or  Domitian  ;  and  entirely  in  furtherance  of  it  to  state  that  John 
was  alive  at  a  period  so  near  his  own  time,  and  that  of  his  original 
readers.  Besides,  Domitius  is  a  very  unusual  appellation  for  Nero, 
and  several  of  the  Greek  fathers  do  not  appear  to  have  thought  of  any 
one  here  other  than  Domitian,  the  last  of  the  Caesars. 

Eusebius,  who  nourished  in  the  early  part  of  the  fourth  century,  and 
not  Irenaeus,  was  the  first  who  expressly  asserted  that  John  was  an 
exile  in  Patmos  during  the  reign  of  Domitian ;  but  it  is  to  be  observed 
that  he  does  not  ascribe  the  Revelation  to  this  apostle  at  all,  for  he 
expressly  says :  "  It  is  likely  the  Revelation  was  seen  by  John  the 
elder."  Lardner  thinks  that  the  argument  of  Dionysius  of  Alexandria, 
who  wrote  against  the  Chiliasts  or  Millenarians,  had  great  weight  with 
Eusebius.  Dionysius  held  that  the  Apocalypse  was  written  by  an  elder 
of  Ephesus,  whose  name  was  John,  "  a  holy  and  inspired  man."  He 
endeavoured  to  prove  from  the  book  itself  (and  it  was  this  argument 
which  evidently  influenced  Eusebius),  from  its  style,  especially  its 
alleged  solecisms,  tStco/iao-t  /nei/  Qap&apiK oTs,1  which  so  strikingly  distinguish 
it  from  the  Gospel  and  Epistles  of  the  apostle,  that  he  could  not  have 
been  the  author.  It  is  doubtless  on  the  authority  of  Eusebius  that  the 
theory  which  assigns  the  Apocalypse  to  the  time  of  Domitian  mainly 
rests.  But  as  he  does  not  recognise  John  the  apostle  as  the  author  of 
the  Apocalypse,  his  opinion  as  to  the  time  of  his  imprisonment  is  of 
little  account  in  determining  the  date  of  this  book.  Jerome,  and  most 
of  the  other  ancient  authorities  commonly  adduced  in  favour  of  the 
later  date,  plainly  depend  on  him.  But  what  is  stated  by  Jerome  as 
true  of  John  in  the  year  96,  that  he  was  so  weak  and  infirm  that  he 
was  with  difficulty  carried  to  the  church,  and  could  speak  only  a  few 
words  to  the  people,2  is  wholly  inconsistent  with  this  opinion.  The 

1  Euseb.,  Hist.  Eccl.,  vii.  25. 

2  Epist.  ad  Galat.,  Oper.  4,  c.  6. 


OTHER   TESTIMONIES.  171 

interesting  anecdote  related  by  Eusebius  as  founded  on  what  occurred 
after  his  return  from  exile,  in  his  pursuit  of  a  young  robber  in  the 
fastnesses  of  the  mountains,  is  equally  inconsistent  with  fixing  the  time 
of  this  exile  in  the  reign  of  Domitian,  when  the  apostle  was  nearly  one 
hundred  years  old. 

OTHER  ANCIENT  TESTIMONIES. 

The  name  of  "the  tyrant,"  upon  whose  death  Clement  of  Alexandria 
represents  John  as  returning  to  Ephesus,  is  not  given  by  him.1  But 
Nero,  above  all  other  Roman  emperors,  bore  the  name  of  "tyrant" 
among  the  early  Christians.  Neither  does  Origen,  who,  in  commenting 
on  Matthew  xx.  22,  23,  speaks  of  a  tradition  which  assigns  the  condem- 
nation of  John  to  Patmos  to  "  a  king  of  the  Romans,"  give  the  name  of 
that  king.2  Epiphanius  (fl.  A.D.  366)  dated  the  Apocalypse  in  the 
reign  preceding  that  of  Nero.  He  is,  however,  admitted  to  have  been 
an  inaccurate  writer.  Andreas,  a  bishop  of  Ceesarea  in  Cappadocia, 
near  the  close  of  the  fifth  century,  in  a  commentary  on  the  Apocalypse, 
says  it  was  understood  to  have  been  written  before  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem.  Arethas,  one  of  his  successors  in  the  next  century,  assigns 
to  it  the  same  date.  In  the  Syriac  version  this  book  is  entitled  :  "  The 
Revelation  which  was  made  by  God  to  John  the  evangelist  in  the 
island  Patmos,  into  which  he  was  thrown  by  Nero  Caesar."  And 
Theophylact,  in  the  eleventh  century,  places  the  origin  of  the  Apo- 
calypse during  the  reign  of  Nero. 

COMPARATIVE  VALUE  OF  THE  EXTERNAL  AND  INTERNAL  ARGUMENT. 

The  external  evidence  seems,  on  the  whole,  to  be  of  comparatively 
little  value  in  deciding  the  true  date  of  the  Apocalypse.  The  main 
reliance,  it  is  clear,  must  be  upon  the  argument  from  internal  evidence. 
When  it  has  been  made  to  appear  that  Irenaeus  says  nothing  respecting 
the  time  when  the  book  of  Revelation  was  written,  and  that  Eusebius 
ascribes  its  authorship  to  another  John  than  the  apostle,  it  is  suffi- 
ciently evident  that  the  remaining  testimony  of  antiquity,  conflicting  as 
it  is,  or  about  evenly  balanced  between  the  earlier  and  later  date,  is  of 
little  account  in  deciding  the  question.  And  when  we  open  the  book 
itself,  and  find  inscribed  on  its  very  pages  evidence  that  at  the  time  it 
was  written  Jewish  enemies  were  still  arrogant  and  active,  and  the  city 

1  Quis  Salvus  Dives,  42,  and  Euseb.,  Hist.  Eccl.,  iii.  23.   rod  rvpdvvov  re\evT'/i<ra.t>Tos, 
K.T.X.     Although  it  is  clear  that  Eusebius  understood  Domitian  to  be  referred  to, 
there  is  nothing  in  his  quotation  from  Clement  to  show  this. 

2  Oper.,  Ed.  de  la  Hue,  iii.,  p.  720.    6  TUV  "Pw^aiuv  jSaatXei/r. 


172  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

in  which  our  Lord  was  crucified,  and  the  temple  and  altar  in  it  were 
still  standing,  we  need  no  date  from  early  antiquity,  nor  even  from  the 
hand  of  the  author  himself,  to  inform  us  that  he  wrote  before  that  great 
historical  event  and  prophetic  epoch,  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem. 


II.  DESIGN  OF  THE  APOCALYPSE. 

It  is  a  book  full  of  wonders.  The  blood  of  the  ministers  and  dis- 
ciples of  Christ  was  flowing,  at  the  command  of  one  of  the  most  infa- 
mous tyrants  that  ever  wielded  a  sceptre  ;  a  persecution  one  of  the  last 
victims  of  which  was  the  great  apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  into  whose 
labours  John  had  now  entered.  Nero  himself  came  to  his  wretched 
end,  probably  the  same  month  Paul  was  executed.  This  truly  was  a 
fit  occasion  for  HIM  who  walketh  amid  the  golden  candlesticks  to  make 
known  to  His  servants  the  issue  of  events  in  which  they  had  so  deep  a 
personal  concern.  Moreover  the  predictions  of  our  Saviour  in  regard 
to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  were  on  the  eve  of  being  accomplished 
It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  the  apostle  addressed  his  com- 
panions "  in  tribulation,  and  in  the  kingdom  and  patience  of  Jesus 
Christ,"  and  said,  "  Blessed  is  he  that  readeth,  and  they  that  hear  the 
words  of  this  prophecy,  and  keep  those  things  that  are  written 
therein ;  for  the  time  is  at  hand."  The  great  design  of  this  book  then 
was  to  support  the  faith  of  God's  persecuted  people.  As  if  the  writer 
of  it  had  said :  "Fear  not;  the  persecuting  powers  under  which  you 
now  suffer,  the  Jewish  and  the  pagan,  will  soon  be  destroyed.  Hold 
fast  that  (precious  faith)  which  thou  hast  received,  that  no  man  take 
thy  crown.  Behold  I  come  quickly.  And  although  other  enemies  may 
arise  in  future  times,  let  the  Christians  of  those  times  find  consolation 
in  this,  that  all  foes  are  destined  to  the  same  overthrow,  and  that 
Christ  shall  reign  in  glory  for  evermore." 

"The  prophecy  of  the  Revelation,"  says  Daubuz,  "was  designed 
that  when  men  should  suffer  for  the  name  of  Christ  they  might  here 
find  some  consolation,  both  for  themselves  and  the  Church ;  for  them- 
selves, by  the  prospect  and  certainty  of  a  reward ;  for  the  Church,  by 
the  testimony  that  Christ  never  forsakes  it  but  will  conquer  at  last." 
"  The  book  of  the  Apocalypse,"  remarks  Dr.  Adam  Clarke,  "  may  be 
considered  as  a  PROPHET,  continued  in  the  Church  of  God,  uttering 
predictions  relative  to  all  times,  which  have  their  successive  fulfilment 
as  ages  roll  on ;  and  thus  it  stands  in  the  Christian  Church  in  the 
place  of  the  succession  of  prophets  in  the  Jewish  Church ;  and  by  this 
special  economy  PROPHECY  is  still  continued,  is  ALWAYS  SPEAKING,  and 
yet  a  succession  of  prophets  rendered  unnecessary." 


"BEHOLD,  i  COME  QUICKLY."  173 

In  the  first  part  of  the  Apocalypse  it  is  repeatedly  declared  that  the 
time  was  at  hand  for  the  series  of  predictions  it  contained  to  be  ful- 
filled. And  in  the  conclusion,  or  what  has  been  called  the  epilogue  of 
the  book,  this  is  again  asserted.  Three  times  we  have  these  words,  "  I 
come  quickly."  Accordingly  this  prophecy  reveals  the  power  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Prince  of  the  kings  of  the  earth,  as  about  to  be  employed 
to  bring  to  a  speedy  end  the  persecutions  by  which  Christians  were 
then  oppressed.  But  it  not  only  reveals  the  destruction  of  these  par- 
ticular persecuting  powers,  but  of  every  other  that  might  arise  in  future 
times,  till  the  day  of  complete  and  final  victory.  Hence  the  great 
theme  of  the  Apocalypse  is  the  coming  of  Jesus  Christ  to  this  world, 
in  compassion  to  His  people,  and  judgment  on  His  foes,  and,  after  the 
destruction  of  all  the  antichristian  powers  that  may  arise  in  different 
ages  of  the  world,  and  the  Church  has  enjoyed  a  long  season  of  unex- 
ampled prosperity,  His  final  coming  to  raise  the  dead  and  judge  the 
righteous  and  the  wicked;  so  that  this  book  might  be  entitled,  not 
inappropriately,  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  COMING  CF  JESUS  CHRIST.  The 
New  Testament  informs  us  of  a  twofold  appearance  or  coming  of 
Christ.  One,  His  appearing  in  the  flesh,  was  visible.  The  other,  or 
second,  relates  to  the  preservation,  propagation,  and  consummation  of 
His  kingdom.  The  second  coming  is  partly  invisible,  as  in  the  instance 
of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  or  as  when  He  interposes  for  His 
sincere  followers  and  grants  them  the  light  and  comfort  of  His 
presence.  And  it  is  partly  visible;  that  is,  Christ  at  the  end  of  the 
world  will  thus  appear,  to  raise  the  dead  and  pass  the  irreversible 
sentence  of  judgment  on  every  man.  Now  it  is  this  second,  partly 
visible  and  partly  invisible,  coming  of  Christ,  which  this  book  reveals, 
and  which  should  never  be  lost  sight  of  if  we  would  have  the  blessed- 
ness it  promises :  "  Blessed  is  he  that  readeth,  and  they  that  hear  the 
words  of  this  prophecy,  and  keep  those  things  that  are  written  in  this 
book." 

In  the  particular  messages  to  the  seven  churches,  the  Lord,  speaking 
by  the  writer  of  this  book,  has  two  objects  in  view :  their  rebuke,  and 
their  consolation  or  encouragement.  They  were  exhorted  to  fear  none 
of  those  things  which  they  were  to  suffer  :  "  Behold  I  come  quickly  ; 
hold  that  fast  which  thou  hast."  "  That  which  ye  have  already,  hold 
fast  till  I  come."  "  I  will  come  unto  thee  quickly."  "  I  will  come  on 
thee  as  a  thief."  "  Behold  I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock."  While 
He  thus  endeavours  to  fortify  the  minds  of  the  faithful  under  their 
tribulations,  by  the  assurance  that  He  would  speedily  come,  He  warns 
such  as  had  fallen  into  a  state  of  spiritual  declension  to  prepare  for  His 
coming  by  repenting,  returning  to  their  first  love,  and  doing  their  first 
works. 


174  THE   LIFE   AND  WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

The  book  with  seven  seals  is  a  symbolical  representation  of  the 
whole  prophecy  contained  in  the  Apocalypse.  In  the  first  six  seals 
we  have  a  prediction  of  the  signs  and  calamities  that  were  to  precede 
the  coming  of  Christ  at  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  in  striking 
correspondence  with  those  foretold  by  the  Saviour.  This  was  that 
coming  to  which  the  persecuted  Christians,  whose  "brother  and 
companion  in  tribulation  "  John  was,  were  directed  then  immediately 
to  look  forward.  John  was  commissioned  to  show  unto  God's  servants 
things  which  were  shortly  to  come  to  pass.  Persecution  succeeded 
persecution  at  the  hands  of  the  Jews ;  and  all  who  acknowledged  them- 
selves Christians  were  cast  out  of  the  synagogue,  and  treated  with  all 
the  cruelty  the  Jews  could  inflict,  or  could  stimulate,  by  false  witness, 
frheir  pagan  rulers  to  inflict.  The  promise,  "  Behold  I  come  quickly," 
encouraged  the  prayer,  "Even  so  come,  Lord  Jesus";  "  come  for  the 
deliverance  of  Thy  persecuted  people."  This  entreaty  was  now 
entering  into  the  ears  of  the  Lord ;  and  He  who  was  crucified  was 
about  to  come,  whilst  some  who  pierced  Him  were  alive,  and  might 
see  Him,  and  feel  His  avenging  power. 

The  prophet  next  proceeds  to  predict  the  destruction  of  the  pagan 
persecuting  power,  under  the  symbol  of  a  great  red  dragon,  with  seven 
heads  and  ten  horns,  and  seven  crowns  upon  his  heads.  He  is  repre- 
sented as  standing  before  "the  woman,"  i.e.  the  Church;  as  "wroth" 
with  her,  as  persecuting  her,  and  going  to  make  war  with  the  remnant 
of  her  seed.  These  expressions  must  be  understood  as  referring  to 
the  bloody  persecutions  of  Christians  under  Nero  and  Domitian.  The 
reigns  of  successive  emperors  were  signalized  by  similar  persecutions, 
though  none  of  them  perhaps  were  equally  sanguinary.  But  the 
promise,  "  Behold  I  come,"  sustained  the  faith  of  God's  people.  At 
the  very  period  of  the  Diocletian  persecution  Christianity  was 
advancing  more  rapidly  than  ever  to  the  overthrow  of  paganism.  The 
prayer,  "Come,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly,"  pierced  the  heavens;  and 
those  pagan  foes  that  had  led  the  people  of  God  into  captivity  were 
made  captives,  and  those  who  had  killed  them  with  the  sword  fell  by 
the  same  weapon, — if  not  literally,  by  that  word  which  is  the  sword  of 
the  Spirit.  The  decline  and  fall  of  the  Roman  empire  was  a  part  of 
that  revelation  which  John  was  commissioned  to  make  to  those  who 
were  his  companions  in  tribulation.  Such  was  their  consolation,  and 
the  consolation  of  their  brethren  who  came  after,  during  the  general 
persecutions  carried  on  by  the  Roman  emperors ;  and  such  at  length 
was  the  reward  of  the  faith  and  patience  of  the  saints. 

The  prophet  having  completed  his  description  of  the  advent  of 
Christ  to  destroy  the  Jewish  and  pagan  persecuting  powers,  proceeds 
next  to  predict  His  coming  to  destroy  a  persecuting  power,  which 


AMEN,  ALLELUIA!  175 

should  not  arise  (although  this  "  mystery  of  iniquity  "  had  begun  to 
"  work  "  at  the  date  of  the  earliest  Epistles  of  Paul,  see  2  Thess.  ii.  7-10) 
until  long  after  the  Christians,  for  whose  consolation  he  immediately 
wrote,  had  been  called  from  the  present  scene.  But  this  too  never- 
theless would  serve  to  fortify  their  minds,  because  the  assurance  that 
God  would  remove  out  of  the  way  future  enemies  would  be  a  proof  of 
His  unchanging  love  to  His  Church.  And  it  has  actually  served  to 
support  the  faith  of  a  great  multitude,  in  different  ages,  to  the  present 
hour.  That  same  Saviour,  who  has  come  once  and  again  for  the 
destruction  of  e^ror  and  of  enemies,  will  fulfil  all  His  word  in  due 
time,  and  great  Babylon  shall  come  into  remembrance  before  God; 
and  a  great  voice  of  much  people  shall  be  heard  in  heaven,  rejoicing 
over  her,  worshipping  God,  saying  AMEN,  ALLELUIA.  He  that  is 
"  called  Faithful  and  True,"  whose  eyes  are  as  a  flame  of  fire,  and  on 
whose  head  are  many  crowns,  will  ride  forth,  leading  His  redeemed  to 
victory.  The  papal  temporal  power  will  be  broken,  and  the  errors 
which  have  grown  up  in  the  Christian  Church  in  connection  with  the 
papacy  be  destroyed;  and  then  those,  or  many  of  them,  who  have 
received  the  mark  of  the  beast,  and  worshipped  his  image,  shall  be 
slain  by  the  sword  of  Him  whose  name  is  the  WORD  OF  GOD,  which 
sword  proceedeth  out  of  His  mouth.  That  is,  they  shall  be  converted, 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  accompanying  the  truth  of  the  gospel,  to  be  the 
true  and  humble  disciples  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

The  book  of  the  Apocalypse,  which  we  are  to  consider  as  a  PROPHET 
always  speaking  in  the  Church  of  God,  at  length  foretells  the  appear- 
ing of  Christ  to  bind  Satan,  and  cast  him  into  the  bottomless  pit  for  a 
thousand  years.  There  is  to  be  a  long  arrest  of  Satanic  influence, 
following  upon  the  destruction  of  antichristian  powers,  including  the 
diversified  forms  of  modern  paganism.  This  will  be  the  noonday  of 
the  latter-day  glory,  foretold  by  ancient  prophets.  At  the  expiration 
of  the  thousand  years  Satan  is  to  be  liberated  for  a  short  period,  and 
will  go  forth  to  deceive  the  nations.  Gog  and  Magog  denote  the 
multitude  that  will  be  deceived  by  him.  He  shall  gather  them  to- 
gether for  battle.  Their  defeat  and  destruction  are  then  foretold, 
together  with  the  finishing  stroke  to  the  agency  of  Satan,  as  a  power 
for  evil,  in  the  world.  He  shall  be  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire  to  be 
tormented  for  ever.  The  great  Being,  from  whose  face  the  earth  and 
the  heaven  shall  flee  away,  will  sit  on  His  great  white  throne,  visible 
in  this  His  final  coming  to  all  the  dead  and  the  quick,  small  and  great. 
The  books  will  be  opened,  and  every  one  judged  out  of  the  things 
written  in  the  books,  according  to  their  works.  The  righteous  will  be 
received  up  into  glory;  and  whosoever  is  not  found  written  in  the 
book  of  life  will  be  cast  out  with  Satan  and  his  angels. 


176  THE   LIFE   AND   WEIT1NGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

In  the  close  of  the  book  the  Son  of  God,  the  Divine  Eevealer,  repeats 
the  solemn  assurance,  "Behold,  I  come  quickly."  He  personates  the 
Spirit  and  the  bride ;  or  He  ceases,  for  a  moment,  to  be  the  speaker, 
and  in  the  pause,  the  Spirit  and  the  bride,  and  all  that  love  His 
appearing  and  wait  with  longing  desire  for  the  advent  of  the  Lord, 
take  up  His  oft  repeated  word,  COME,  and  echo  it  back  to  His  throne. 
First  the  Holy  Spirit  speaks,  and  says  to  the  Boot  and  the  Offspring 
of  David,  and  the  Bright  and  Morning  Star,  Come.  The  bride,  the 
ransomed  Church,  purified  by  her  trials,  now  ready  for  her  espousals, 
speaks  out  with  the  Spirit  dwelling  in  her,  "  Come,  my  Lord  ;  make 
haste,  my  Beloved."  And  while  she  is  yet  speaking  the  opening  gates 
of  heaven  shall  reveal  her  Fair  One,  the  heavenly  Lamb,  coming  with 
ten  thousand  of  His  saints.  Everything,  from  beginning  to  end, 
seems  to  be  in  rapid  motion,  and  hastens  and  urges  on  to  this 
triumphant  goal.  One  seal  is  broken  after  another  ;  there  is  a  sound 
of  trumpets,  a  pouring  out  of  vials,  swift  messengers  are  flying 
through  the  air.  At  one  time  the  image  is  that  of  a  throne  in  heaven, 
supported  by  living  creatures,  one  of  them  having  the  wings  of  an 
eagle,  and  lightnings  and  thunderings  and  voices  proceeded  out  of  it ; 
at  another,  it  is  that  of  a  conqueror  on  His  snow-white  steed,  or  a 
glittering  two-edged  sword.  But  there  is  one  voice  in  all  its  epistles, 
seals,  trumpets,  vials,  plagues,  and  visions  of  glory  and  joy,  THE  LORD 
COMETH.  That  voice  has  been  sounding  along  the  ages  for  more  than 
eighteen  hundred  years;  and  He  has  come  again  and  again  to  the 
overthrow  of  one  enemy  after  another,  Jew  and  pagan,  priest  and 
emperor ;  and  still  it  sounds,  and  still  He  is  coming  to  the  overthrow 
of  superstition,  idolatry,  and  bigotry,  wherever  found,  in  whatever 
form  practised,  and  by  whatever  sacred  names  baptized.  Scripture 
would  lead  us  to  be  always  expecting  Christ ;  and  there  has  always 
been  something  present  in  the  world  to  warrant  the  expectation. 
While  some  who  have  thought  they  saw  symptoms  of  His  coming  to 
judgment,  or  of  His  millennial  reign,  have  been  disappointed ;  others, 
who  have  desired  His  spiritual  presence,  and  have  interpreted  the 
providential  events  of  their  own  times  by  the  light  of  Divine  truth, 
have  felt  that  their  prayers  for  His  advent  were  not  unanswered.  Nor 
will  they,  who  wait  for  His  coming  now,  to  make  the  desert  rejoice 
and  blossom  as  the  rose,  look  in  vain.  "  Signs  of  the  white  horses  " 
are  even  now  appearing ;  bright  signals  herald  His  approach.1  The 
Spirit  and  the  bride  still  supplicate ;  the  bride,  the  ransomed  Church, 
as  with  uplifted  hands  and  outstretched  neck,  cries,  "  Come,  oh  hasten 
Thy  coming."  Then  let  him  that  heareth  say,  Come.  And  let  him  that 

1  Parochial  Sermons,  by  John  Henry  Newman,  D.D. 


"EVEN  so,  COME."  177 

is  athirst  come,  hasten  to  meet  the  Coming  One.  "And  whosoever 
will,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freely."  "Amen.  Even  so,  come, 
Lord  Jesus." 

That  the  Apocalypse  was  written  in  accordance  with  this  general 
design,  and  at  this  period  of  the  apostle's  history,  will  more  fully 
appear  from  the  book  itself. 


CHAPTER  X. 

ANALYSIS    OF    THE    APOCALYPSE,   WITH   BRIEF 
EXPLANATORY  NOTES. 

1.  BY  WHOM  AND  TO  WHOM  TH.E  REVELATION  WAS  MADE. — THE  TITLE. — THE 
DEDICATION. — THE  EEVEALER  SPEAKS. — II.  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN 
CHURCHES. — TO  EPHESUS. — TO  SMYRNA. — PERGAMOS. — THYATIRA. — SARDIS. 

PHILADELPHIA. LAODICEA. — III.'   SUBLIME     VISIONS,     INTRODUCTORY. — 

THRONE  IN  HEAVEN. — LAMB  IN  THE  MIDST  OF  THE  THRONE. — HONOUR  PAID 
TO  THE  LAMB. — IV.  OVERTHROW  OF  THE  JEWISH  PERSECUTING  POWER. — 
FIRST  FIVE  SEALS,  SIGNS  OF  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM. — THE  SIXTH 
SEAL. — SEVENTH  SEAL. — SEVEN  ANGELS  PREPARE  TO  SOUND. — FIRST  FOUR 
TRUMPETS. — FIRST  TRUMPET,  PAGAN  POWER  OF  HOME  APPEARS. — SECOND 
TRUMPET,  DESTRUCTION  OF  NATIONS,  OR  THEIR  ABSORPTION  INTO  THE 
EMPIRE. — THIRD  TRUMPET,  JULIUS  GffiSAR,  FOUNDER  OF  THE  EMPIRE. — 
FOURTH  TRUMPET,  EMPIRE  ESTABLISHED  UNDER  AUGUSTUS. — FIFTH  TRUMPET, 
FIRST  WOE,  OR  NERO  AND  THE  RAVAGES  OF  THE  JEWISH  WAR. — SIXTH 
TRUMPET,  SECOND  WOE,  OR  SIEGE  AND  DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM  UNDER 

TITUS. — V.  OVERTHROW  OF  THE  PAGAN  PERSECUTING  POWER. THE  SEVENTH 

TRUMPET  BEGINS  TO  SOUND. — COMPENDIUM  OF  THE  LITTLE  BOOK. — PAGAN 
ROME  PERSECUTING  THE  CHURCH. — SPIRITUAL  AGENTS  IN  THE  CONFLICT, 
AND  ANTICIPATED  VICTORY. — PERSECUTIONS  CONTINUED. — THE  IMPERIAL 
MAGISTRACY  OF  ROME  THE  AGENCY. — VI.  CORRUPTIONS,  TEMPORAL  POWER,  ETC., 
OF  NOMINALLY  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. — SYMBOL,  DOMINION  AND  NAME  OF  NEW 
PERSECUTING  POWER. — GLOOMY  PICTURE  RELIEVED  BY  VISION. — JUDGMENT 
ON  THE  PAPACY. — THE  SEVEN  VIALS  OR  PLAGUES. — FIRST  VIAL,  PRIEST- 
CRAFT AND  DEGENERACY  OF  THE  CLERGY. — THE  SECOND  AND  THIRD, 
MOHAMMEDAN  POWER  IN  THE  SEVENTH  AND  OTTOMAN  IN  THIRTEENTH 
CENTURY. — FOURTH  VIAL,  THE  INQUISITION. — FIFTH,  REFORMATION. — THE 
SIXTH  VIAL,  FRENCH  REVOLUTION. — THE  SEVENTH  VIAL,  SYMBOLS  OF 
DESTRUCTION. — SEVENTH  VIAL  CONTINUED,  WOMAN  ON  A  SCARLET  COLOURED 
BEAST.— FALL  OF  SPIRITUAL  BABYLON. — LAMENTATIONS  OVER  HER  FALL. 
— REJOICINGS  IN  HEAVEN. — FINAL  CONFLICT  AND  VICTORY. — VII. 
MILLENNIUM. — FINAL  DESTRUCTION  OF  SATAN'S  POWER. — RESURRECTION  AND 
LAST  JUDGMENT. — PRELUDE  TO  DESCRIPTION  OF  NEW  JERUSALEM. — THE 
CITY  DESCRIBED. — DESCRIBED  IN  RESPECT  TO  ITS  MORE  SPIRITUAL 
ELEMENTS. — THE  EPILOGUE. 


REVELATION  I.  179 

THE  EBVELATION  OF   ST.  JOHN  THE  DIVINE. 

1.   BY   WHOM   AND   TO   WHOM   THE  REVELATION   WAS   MADE.      CHAP.  I. 

The  Title  and  Introduction. 
L]  [Ver.  1-3. 

1  THE  Revelation1  of  Jesus  Christ,2  which  God  gave  unto  Him, 
to  show  unto  His  servants  things  which  must  shortly3  come  to 
pass ;  and  He  sent  and  signified  it  by  His  angel  unto  His  ser- 

2  vant  John  :4  who  bare  record  of  the  word  of  God/  and  of  the 
testimony  of  Jesus  Christ,   and   of  all   things   that   he  saw. 

3  Blessed  is  he  that  readeth,  and  they  that  hear6  the  words  of 
this  prophecy,  and  keep  those  things  which  are  written  therein  : 
for  the  time7  is  at  hand. 

The  Dedication,  with  an  Anthem  to  the  Divine  Eevealer. 

[Ver.  4-7. 

4  John8  to  the  seven  churches  which  are  in  Asia :    Grace  be 

1  'AITOKAAT^IS  'IHSOT  XPISTOT,  THE  EEVELATION  OF  JESUS  CHEIST, 
means  both  that  the  revelation  is  from  Him,  or  He  is  the  Discloser  of  it,  and  is  of 
Him,  or  that  He  is  the  subject  of  it.    ' ATroKd\v\f/is  means,  in  the  LXX.  and  the 
N.  T.,  a  discovery  of  things  hidden,  as  in  1  Sam.  xx.  30,  Kom.  xvi.  25,  2  Cor.  xii.  1, 
Eph.  iii.  3, — or  the  manifestation  of  a  person,  as  of  Christ,  Luke  ii.  32,  1  Cor.  i.  7, 
etc.    Wiclif,  in  his  translation,  A.D.  1380,  used  the  word  "  Apocalips." 

2  That  it  was  given  to  Jesus  Christ  accords,  doctrinally,  with  the  teaching  found 
in  the  Gospel  written  by  John  :  John  v.  19,  20 ;  vii.  16 ;  viii.  28 ;  xvi.  15,  etc.    Cf. 
1  Cor.  xv.  24-28. 

3  'Ei*  T(£X«,  in  swiftness,  or  in  a  very  short  time.   This  is  repeated  very  often,  e.g. 
chap.  ii.  5  and  16,  "  I  come  quickly,"  ra.-x.ii ;  iii.  11 ;  xi.  14 ;  xxii.  7, 12,  20.    A  large 
part  of  the  book  was  to  be  speedily  fulfilled.    At  every  period  to  which  the  prophecy 
relates,  the  "  shortly  "  and  "I  come  quickly  "  have  a  peculiar  significance. 

4  The  order  is,  God  gave  it  to  Christ ;  Christ  sent  an  angel  to  communicate  it  to 
John  ;  and  John  delivered  it  to  the  churches. 

5  There  can  be  no  allusion  to  the  other  writings  of  this  apostle,  the  Gospel  and 
Epistles,  which  were  written  subsequently  to  the  Apocalypse.    Even  Hengstenberg, 
who  holds  that  the  Gospel  and  Epistles  have  priority  of  date,  expresses  surprise 
that  the  reference  to  these  writings  should  still  have  its  defenders. 

6  The  reference  plainly  is  to  the  public  reading  and  hearing, — the  singular,  he, 
pointing  to  the  reader,  and  the  plural,  they,  to  the  company  listening,  in  an  age 
anterior  to  the  printing  of  books. 

7  '0  yap  Kaipbs  £77^5,  another  expression  pointing  to  the  immediate  future.    Some 
of  the  events  were  so  near  that,  even  while  St.  John  was  writing,  they  might  be  said 
to  be  commencing.    And,  in  every  generation,  the  time  of  some  of  the  events  of 
this  wonderful  book  has  been  at  hand. 

8  The  writer  does  not  style  himself  an  apostle.    It  was  not  necessary.    He  was 
about  to  address  them  rather  as  a  prophet ;  and  those  whom  he  addressed  would 
know  that  none  other  but  the  apostle  of  this  name  would  or  could  address  them 
in  the  manner  he  does  in  this  book.      The  entire  book  is  inscribed  to  the 


180  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OP    ST.  JOHN. 

unto  you,  and  peace,1  from.  Him  which  is,  and  which  was,  and 
which  is  to  come  ;2  and  from  the  seven  spirits3  which  are  before 

5  His  throne;  and  from  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  the  faithful  witness/ 
and  the  first  begotten  of  the  dead,  and  the  prince  of  the  kings 
of  the  earth.     Unto  Him5  that  loved  us,  and  washed  us  from 

6  our  sins  in  His  own  blood,  and    hath  made   us   kings6   and 
priests  unto  God  and  His  Father ;  to  Him  be  glory  and  dominion 

7  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen.     Behold,  He  cometh  with  clouds  ;7 
and  every  eye  shall  see  Him,  and  they  also  which  pierced  Him : 
and  all  kindreds  of  the  earth  shall  wail  because  of  Him.     Even 
so,  Amen. 

The  Revealer  speaks.     John's  First  Vision  that  of  the  Revealer. 

[Ver.  8-20. 

8  I  am  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  beginning  and  the  ending,  saith 
the  Lord,8  which  is,  and  which  was,  and  which  is  to  come,  the 

seven  churches.  The  reason  why  he  addresses  no  more  than  seven  churches  is 
found  in  the  fact  that  at  this  early  period  in  the  apostolic  history  these  were  all 
that  existed  in  the  region  designated.  Colossse  had  been  destroyed  by  an  earth- 
quake not  long  after  the  church  there  had  been  addressed  by  Paul  in  his  Epistle. 
This  according  to  Pliny,  Hist.  Nat.,  v.  41,  took  place  in  the  ninth  year  of  Nero. 

1  Xdpis  b/juv  KO.I  dprjvr],  a  form  of  salutation  which  was  a  very  favourite  one  with 
the  apostles.    Eom.  i.  7  ;  1  Cor.  i.  3  ;  2  Cor.  i.  2 ;  1  Pet.  i.  2  ;  2  Pet.  i.  2. 

2  "  From  Him,"  etc.,  &irb  6  &v  Kal  6  fy  KO!  o  epxonevos  is  one  of  the  more  striking 
instances  in  this  book  in  which  there  is  a  manifest  departure  from  the  ordinary 
Greek  construction.    It  is  simply  a  translation  of   that  great  and  awful  name, 
Jehovah  (which  is  indeclinable,   and  admits  of  no  variation),  into  the  heathen 
language  in  which  John  was  writing. 

3  The  Holy  Spirit,  according  to  the  ancient  interpretation  (see  Poole's  Synopsis) 
is  undoubtedly  designated  by  this  expression.     The  reference  is  to  His  divers  opera- 
tions, or  manifold  manifestations  (1  Cor.  xii.  4-7),  in  all  which  He  is  "  one  and  the 
selfsame  spirit."     The  number  seven  is  frequently  used  symbolically  in  this  book. 
In  oriental  usage  it  is  the  number  of  completeness  ;  Philo  styles  it  reXeo-06/3os,  the 
completing  number. 

4  In  the  original  we  have  here  another  of  those  apparent  solecisms,  6  /jidprvs,  K.T.\., 
instead  of  TOV  [idprvpos,  /c.r.X.    In  chap.  iii.  14  these  titles  are  made  equivalent  to 
the  indeclinable  Hebrew  Amen,  used  as  a  name  of  Deity,  hence  no  oblique  cases  are 
recognised. 

5  The  opening  strains  of  a  sublime  anthem. 

6  The  original  has  kingdom  instead  of  kings,  and  is  sustained  by  the  Sinaitic 
and  Alexandrine  MSS. ;  but  the  idea  of  the  Textus  Eeceptus  may  be  retained,  as  it 
is  a  kingdom  in  which  the  subjects  share  the  reign. 

7  The  anthem  concludes  in  these  exalted  strains.  It  is  as  if  the  last  great  day  had 
dawned  on  the  vision  of  the  inspired  seer,  and  he  saw  the  clouds  which  Christ  will 
then  make  His  chariot,  rolling  beneath  his  feet. 

8  To  the  anthem  there  seemed  to  come  a  response  as  from  heaven  itself.     The 
narrative  in  its  onward  flow  is  arrested,  and  without  any  intimation  of  change  in 


EEVELATION    I.  181 

9  Almighty.    (I  John,1  who  also  am  your  brother,  and  companion 

in  tribulation,  and  in  the  kingdom  and  patience  of  Jesus  Christ,2 

was  in  the  isle  that  is  called  Patmos,3  for  the  word  of  God,  and 

10  for  the  testimony  of  Jesus  Christ.     I  was  in  the  spirit  on  the 

Lord's  day,4  and  heard  behind  me  a  great  voice,  as  of  a  trumpet,5 

actor  or  speaker,  the  voice  of  a  Being  is  heard,  as  if  echoed  back  from  the  invisible 
world,  as  the  last  cadences  of  the  anthem  die  away  :  "  I  am  Alpha  and  Omega,  the 
beginning  and  the  ending,  saith  the  Lord."  The  Sinaitic  and  Alexandrine  Texts 
both  have  Lord  God.  Alpha  is  the  first,  and  Omega  the  last,  letter  in  the  Greek 
alphabet.  The  meaning  of  the  initial  and  final  letter,  as  used  in  this  title,  is  doubt- 
less as  defined,  the  beginning  and  the  ending,  for  which  we  find  no  corresponding 
words  in  several  of  the  most  ancient  MSS.,  the  Alexandrine  for  example.  He  is 
the  All-in-all.  These  two  letters,  A  and  fi,  represent  and  include  all  the  others,  or  the 
entire  alphabet ;  which  also  may  be  said  to  include  all  knowledge,  as  disseminated 
and  perpetuated  by  letters.  He  was  committing  to  His  servant  a  written  revelation, 
and  He  appropriates  a  title  peculiarly  suited  to  Himself  in  this  character,  as  the 
Inspirer  of  every  one  employed  in  putting  it  in  writing,  as  the  great  fountain  of 
Divine  and  saving  knowledge. 

1  John  now  began  to  realize  the  solemnity  and  dignity  of  his  position,  as  one 
selected  to  show  to  the  servants  of  God  the  things  of  the  future,  as  he  had  not  and 
could  not  have  done  before.     He  saw  as  with  a  prophet's  ken  how  what  he  was 
writing  would  be  intently  perused  and  pondered  in  the  distant  places  and  ages  of 
the  world.     He  arrests  himself  in  the  record  he  had  begun  to  make  of  the  words  of 
the  voice,  and  which  he  had  caught  at  once  as  an  amanuensis,  in  order  that  he 
might  more  fully  state  who  he  himself  was,  and  how  he  came  to  be  in  so  strange 
and  out-of-the-way  a  place  when  the  revelation  was  made. 

2  'Ev  rrj  6\l\{/ei,  K.T.X.,  is  language  that  points  to  something  beyond  the  ordi- 
nary troubles  of  life,  to  persecution,  the  persecution  which  had  made  St.  John  a 
prisoner. 

3  The  preterite  was,  eyevbwv,  is  not  to  be  understood  as  meaning  that  St.  John 
was  not  still  on  the  island  when  he  wrote  this  book.     It  was  the  scene  of  the 
vision  he  is  about  to  record  ;  he  may  have  had  his  future  readers  in  view.     That  the 
process  of  writing  was  going  on  while  the  visions  recorded  were  yet  passing  before 
him  appears   from  chap.  x.  4.      Patmos,   now  called  Patino  and   Patmosa,  is  a 
rocky  island  in  the  JEgean  Sea,  situated  not  far  from  the  coast,  to  the  south  of 
Ephesus,  a  short  distance  from  Samos.     It  is  little  more  than  one  huge  rock  pro- 
jecting out  of  the  sea,  and  at  the  time  of  the  apostle's  exile  was  probably  with- 
out inhabitants,  unless  it  might  be  other  prisoners,  and  those  who  had  charge  of 
the  place  as  a  prison.     It  was  in  this  stern  and  desolate  place  that  St.  John  was 
favoured  with  the  visions  of  God.    It  was  among  the  caves,  or  from  the  peaks  of  its 
rocky  eminences,  that  he  heard  sounding  the  words  of  that  awful  voice  which  he 
had  commenced,  and  was  about  to  resume,  recording. 

4  He  was  in  the  spirit,  i.e.  in  a  theopneustic  state,  on  the  Lord's  day.     This  is  the 
only  instance  in  which  this  appellation  is  given  to  the  first  day  of  the  week  in  the 
New  Testament.    It  is  called  77  Kvptaicfi  ij^pa,  the  dominical  day,  because  on  it  our 
Lord  arose  from  the  dead,  and  became  the  firstfruits  of  them  that  slept ;  and  it 
became  consecrated  to  public  worship. 

6  He  heard  behind  him  a  great  voice  of  a  trumpet.  Whether  he  stood  within  or 
in  front  of  some  grotto  (one  is  still  pointed  out  as  the  scene  of  his  visions)  we  know 
not ;  the  voice  sounded  behind  him.  It  was  a  voice  of  strength  and  majesty,  which 
seemed  to  fill  all  the  air  for  a  wide  distance. 


182  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OP   ST.  JOHN. 

11  Saying,)  I  am  Alpha  and  Omega/  the  first  and  the  last :  and 
What  thou  seest,  write  in  a  book,  and  send  it  unto  the  seven 
churches  which  are  in  Asia ;  unto  Ephesus,  and  unto  Smyrna, 
and  unto  Pergamos,  and  unto  Thyatira,  and  unto  Sardis,  and 

12  unto  Philadelphia,  and  unto  Laodicea.     And  I  turned2  to  see 
the  voice  that  spake  with  me.    And  being  turned,  I  saw  seven 

13  golden  candlesticks ;  and  in  the  midst  of  the  seven  candlesticks 
one  like  unto  the  Son  of  man,3  clothed  with  a  garment  down  to 

14  the  foot,  and  girt  about  the  paps  with  a  golden  girdle.     His 
head  and  his  hairs  were  white  like  wool,  as  white  as  snow;4 

15  and  His  eyes  were  as  a  flame  of  fire ;  and  His  feet  like  unto 
fine  brass,5  as  if  they  burned  in  a  furnace ;  and  His  voice  as 

16  the  sound  of  many  waters.6     And  He  had  in  His  right  hand 
seven  stars :  and  out  of  His  mouth  went  a  sharp  two-edged  sword: 
and  His  countenance  was  as  the  sun  shineth  in  his  strength.7 

17  And  when  I  saw  Him,  I  fell  at  His  feet  as  dead.     And  He  laid 
His  right  hand  upon  me,  saying  unto  me,  Fear  not ;  I  am  the 

18 first  and  the  last:  I  am  He  that  liveth,  and  was  dead;8  and, 
behold,  I  am  alive  for  evermore,  Amen ;  and  have  the  keys9  of 

1  I  am  Alpha  and  Omega.    John  here  resumes  the  record  which  he  had  com- 
menced, ver.  8.    He  is  told  what  to  do  :  to  write  what  he  saw  in  a  book,  and  send  it 
to  the  churches  named.    He  was  to  send  it  to  them,  i.e.,  from  Patmos.    The  Sin. 
and  Alex.  Texts  omit  "  which  are  in  Asia." 

2  If  it  was  within  a  cave  or  excavation  where  the  apostle  stood  on  that  dominical 
day,  worshipping,  as  he  looked  towards  the  light,  and  listened  to  the  murmurs 
of  the  sea,  Him  whose  resurrection  the  day  commemorated,  he  saw  its  gloomy 
recesses  lighted  up,  and  a  glory  such  as  no  mortal  eye,  not  excepting  Moses'  or 
Isaiah's,  ever  rested  on  before. 

3  Amidst  seven  distinct  and  separate  lamps  he  saw  One  like  unto  the  Son  of  man. 
This  is  a  title  which  Christ  applied  to  Himself  on  many  occasions  during  His  earthly 
ministry,  but  which  does  not  appear  to  have  been  used  in  addressing  Him,  or  in 
application  to  Him,  by  any  except  Himself,  until  after  His  resurrection. 

4  The  whiteness  here  is  not  that  of  hoary  age,  neither  does  it  denote  merely  the 
purity  of  Christ,  but  His  majesty  as  a  king ;  kings  and  other  persons  of  official 
standing  often  resorting  to  artificial  means  to  produce  precisely  this  effect. 

5  XttA/coAt/Savy,  brass  in  an  incandescent  state.     See  the  probable  origin  of  this 
word  explained  in  chapter  on  date  of  Apocalypse,  p.  153. 

6  His  voice,  before  likened  to  a  trumpet,  is  now  likened  to  the  majestic,  far  reach- 
ing sound  of  the  ocean  breaking  on  the  shore. 

7  Any  attempt  to  give  outward  form  or  an  embodiment  to  this  sublime  descrip- 
tion would  only  be  to  degrade  it.     The  symbols  employed  were  not  given  to  be  used 
in  making  pictures.     See  Dan.  x.  4-9  ;  cf.  Ezek.  i.  28. 

8  Two  distinct  classes  of  titles  and  attributes  applied  interchangeably  to  Christ. 
He  is  the  THEANTHROPOS. 

9  To  have  the  keys  is  an  oriental  symbol  of  authority  and  government :  Isa.  xxii. 
22,  Eev.  iii.  7.    By  hell,  or  hades,  is  not  meant  the  mere  prison  of  the  wicked,  any 


REVELATION  II.  183 

19  hell  and  of  death.     Write  the  things  which  thou  hast  seen,  and 
the  things  which  are,  and  the  things  which  shall  be  hereafter;1 

20  the  mystery  of  the  seven  stars  which  thou  sawest  in  My  right 
hand,  and  the  seven  golden  candlesticks.     The  seven  stars  are 
the  angels  of  the  seven  churches  :2  and  the  seven  candlesticks 
which  thou  sawest  are  the  seven  churches. 


2.  THE  EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES.     CHAPS.  II.  AND  III. 

To  Ephesus. 
II.]  [Ver.  1-7. 

1  Unto  the  angel  of  the  church  of  Ephesus3  write ;  These 
things  saith  He  that  holdeth  the  seven  stars  in  His  right  hand, 

2  who  walketh  in  the  midst  of  the  seven  golden  candlesticks ;   I 
know  thy  works,4  and  thy  labour,  and  thy  patience,  and  how 
thou  canst  not  bear  them  which  are  evil :  and  thou  hast  tried 
them  which  say  they  are  apostles,5  and  are  not,  and  hast  found 

3  them  liars :  and  hast  borne,  and  hast  patience,  and  for  My  name's 

4  sake  hast  laboured,  and  hast  not  fainted.    Nevertheless  I  have 
somewhat  against  thee,  because  thou  hast  left  thy  first  love. 

5  Remember  therefore  from  whence  thou  art  fallen,  and  repent, 

more  than  that  he  who  is  exalted  to  the  supreme  dominion  in  an  earthly  kingdom 
has  authority  only  over  its  dungeons  and  prison  houses.  But  by  it  is  meant  the  in- 
visible world,  to  which  all  the  dead,  whether  good  or  bad,  have  departed. 

1  We  have  in  ver.  19  a  plan  or  very  general  outline  of  the  book  or  prophecy. 
1.  He  was  to  record  the  things  already  seen ;  to  wit,  the  glowing  vision  of  the  Son 
of  man,  investing  him  with  authority.     2.  The  prophecy  was  to  have  reference  to 
the  existing   state  of  the  Church,   as  affected  by  the  hostile  Jewish  and  pagan 
powers.    3.  It  was  to  relate  to  the  destruction  of  all  antichristian  powers,  and  to 
the  Church  in  its  final  and  complete  glory. 

2  He  expressly  declares,  before  proceeding,  that  the  stars  were  symbols  of  the 
angels  of  the  seven  churches,  and  the  lamps  symbols  of  the  churches. 

:}  The  Ephesians  styled  their  city  irp^Tij  -7-375  'A<r/as,  and  it  was  the  most  ancient 
and  chief  city  of  Ionia.  Its  foundation  dates  from  the  era  of  the  ante-Hellenic  tribes. 
Under  the  Persian  rule  it  was  sunk  in  luxury  and  voluptuousness.  Lysander  set  on 
foot  commerce,  industry,  and  the  arts,  and  succeeded  in  raising  Ephesus  to  be  the 
most  magnificent  city  of  Asia.  See  Plutarch.  For  a  fuller  notice  of  Ephesus,  see 
Chap.  VHL,  p.  145.  By  the  angels  addressed  in  these  epistles  we  are  to  understand 
the  official  directorship  of  these  churches.  There  appears  to  have  been  one  pastor, 
or  bishop,  who  presided,  with  independent  authority,  in  each  of  these  churches. 

4  Oi5a  TO,  2pya  <rou,  "  I  know  thy  works,"  is  a  formula  with  which  all  the  seven 
epistles  commence. 

5  The  false  apostles  whom  Paul  had  to  contend  with  :  2  Cor.  ii.  17  ;  xi.  4,  5,  13  ; 
Gal.  i.  7  ;  ii.  4 ;    Phil.  iii.  2,  3.     The  Sin.  and  Alex.  Codices  have,  "  which  call 
themselves  apostles."    This  book  must  therefore  have  been  written  when  a  claim  to 
the  apostleship,  with  some  plausibility,  could  be  set  up. 


184  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

and  do  the  first  works ;  or  else  I  will  come  unto  thee  quickly, 
and  will  remove l  thy  candlestick  out  of  his  place,  except  thou 

6  repent.     But  this  thou  hast,  that  thou  hatest  the  deeds  of  the 

7  Nicolaitans,2  which  I  also  hate.     He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him 
hear3  what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches ;  To  him  that 
overcometh  will  I  give  to  eat  of  the  tree  of  life,4  which  is  in 
the  midst  of  the  paradise  of  God. 

To  Smyrna. 

[Ver.  8-11. 

8  And  unto  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Smyrna5  write ;  These 

1  It  is  not  a  destruction  but  a  removal  that  is  threatened.     "  If  the  light  of  the 
gospel  goes  out,"  says  Bossuet,  "  in  one  region,  it  is  not  therefore  extinguished,  but 
is  only  removed  elsewhere  and  transferred  to  another  people."     The  very  site  of  the 
ancient  city  is  a  desolation,  and  scarcely  can  one  be  found  there  who  ever  heard  the 
name  of  Paul  or  of  John.    Goats  find  shelter  in  its  streets,  among  its  ruins,  from 
the  sun  at  noon ;  noisy  crows  seem  to  insult  its  silence  ;  and  the  partridge  calls  in 
the  area  of  the  theatre  and  the  stadium.     The  historian  Gibbon  thus  writes  of  the 
fall  of  Ephesus  :  "  In  the  loss  of  Ephesus,  A.D.  1311,  the  Christians  deplored  the  loss 
of  the  first  angel,  the  extinction  of  the  first  candlestick  of  the  Kevelation.     The 
desolation  is  complete  ;  and  the  temple  of  Diana,  or  the  church  of  Mary,  will  equally 
elude  the  search  of  the  curious  traveller." 

2  The  best  explanation  of  the  term  Nicolaitans  makes  it  symbolical,  like  Balaam, 
ver.  14,  and  Jezebel,  ver.  20,  and  makes  all  these  names  apply  to  the  Judaizers 
with  whom  the  early  churches  were  infested.     There  are  insuperable  objections  to 
a  historical  explanation,  or  the  derivation  of  the  name  from  a  sectarian  called 
Nicolaus.     Balaam,  according  to  its  etymology,  signifies  "  destroyer  of  the  people"  ; 
and  Nicolaus  seems  to  be  the  same  name  Grecized,  meaning,  according  to  its 
etymology,  the  same.    It  is  simply  Balaam  in  Greek. 

3  The  formula,  "  he  that  hath  an  ear,"  etc.,  is  similar  to  the  one  Jesus  was  ac- 
customed to  use  during  His  visible  ministry  on  earth.     Matt.  xi.  15,  xiii.  9  ;  Luke 
viii.  8. 

4  The  promise  to  the  conqueror  is  that  he  should  be  admitted  to  the  privilege  from 
which  the  sin  of  our  first  parents  debarred  them.    The  forfeitures  in  Adam  should 
be  more  than  regained.     The  tree  of  life  from  which  Adam  was  excluded  was  in 
Eden,  a  transitory  probationary  state ;  but  this  is  in  the  midst  of  the  paradise  of 
God.    That  was  a  mere  sign  and  seal  of  immortality ;  this  represents  eternal  life 
itself,  through  the  infinite  and  unmerited  grace  of  Christ  the  Kedeemer. 

The  most  striking  of  all  the  lessons  to  be  derived  from  the  first  of  the  seven 
epistles  appears  to  be  this  :  that  it  is  possible  for  Christians  to  be  firm  in  maintain- 
ing the  doctrines,  and  to  avoid  open  scandal,  whilst  the  ardour  of  love  greatly 
declines. 

5  Smyrna  is  the  central  emporium  of  the  trade  of  the  Levant,  and  maintains  its 
rank  as  a  considerable  city,  having  a  population  computed  at  130,000.  It  is  situated 
at  about  forty-eight  miles  north  of  Ephesus.     The  ancients  called  it  "  the  crown  of 
Ionia."    The  unusually  large  number  of  Christians  that  have  found  their  home  in 
the  town  renders  it  peculiarly  unclean  in  the  eyes  of  the  strict  Moslems  who  have 
possession  of  it,  and  among  them  it  has  acquired  the  name  of  infidel  Izmir,  or 
Smyrna.     The  Greek  Christians  have  a  bishop  and  two  churches. 

It  was  here  that  Polycarp,  a  personal  friend  and  disciple  of  the  apostle  John,  and 


REVELATION   II.  185 

things  saith  the  first  and  the  last,  which  was  dead,  and  is  alive ; 

9 1  know  thy  works,  and  tribulation,  and  poverty,  (but  thou  art 

rich,)  and  I  know  the  blasphemy  of  them  which  say  they  are 

10  Jews,1  and  are  not,  but  are  the  synagogue  of  Satan.     Fear  none 
of  those  things  which  thou  shalt  suffer :  behold,  the  devil  shall 
cast  some  of  you  into  prison,  that  ye  may  be  tried ;  and  ye  shall 
have  tribulation  ten2  days :  be  thou  faithful  unto  death,  and  I 

11  will  give  thee  a  crown  of  life.     He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him 
hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches ;  He  that  over- 
cometh  shall  not  be  hurt  of  the  second  death.3 

To  Pergamos. 

[Ver.  12-17. 

12  And  to  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Pergamos4  write  ;  These 
things  saith  He  which  hath  the  sharp  sword  with  two  edges; 

13 1  know  thy  works,  and  where  thou  dwellest,  even  where  Satan's 
seat5  is :  and  thou  boldest  fast  My  name,  and  hast  not  denied 
My  faith,  even  in  those  days  wherein  Antipas6  was  My  faithful 

minister  of  the  church  of  Smyrna,  suffered  martyrdom  under  Marcus  Aurelius. 
The  Christians  of  Smyrna  hold  the  memory  of  this  venerable  man  in  the  highest 
honour,  and  go  annually  in  procession  to  his  supposed  tomb. 

1  That  the  Jews  were  the  fomenters  and  willing  agents  in  this  persecution,  points 
clearly  to  the  earlier  date  which  is  claimed  for  this  book. 

2  There  is  no  proof  that  this  number  ten  is  to  be  understood  as  symbolical  of  a  long 
period  ;  it  is  probably  to  be  taken  literally. 

3  The  expression  "  second  death  "  is  found  in  no  other  book  of  Scripture.     It  is 
the  equivalent  of  the  Gehenna  of  Matt.  v.  29  and  Luke  xii.  5.     The  penalty  of  dis- 
obedience was  not  merely  exclusion  from  the  tree  of  life,  i.e.,  it  was  not  merely 
negative  but  positive  in  its  character ;  it  was  death  reaching  beyond  the  grave.    The 
promise  here  is  of  deliverance  from  this  most  dreadful  of  future  evils. 

4  Pergamos  is  in  the  southern  part  of  Mysia,  sixty-four  miles  north  of  Smyrna, 
and  more  than  a  hundred  north  of  Ephesus,  some  eighteen  or  twenty  miles  from 
the  sea,  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Cetius.    It  was  eminent  as  a  seat  of  literature 
and  science,  and  had  possessed  a  library  of  about  200,000  volumes  or  manuscripts. 
The  art  of  preparing  the  sheep  or  goat  skins  for  manuscripts  had  been  carried  to 
such  perfection  at  Pergamos,  that  from  this  circumstance  they  obtained  the  name 
of  pergamina  chartce,  or  parchment.    As  a  heathen  city,  it  was  devoted  to  the  worship 
of  ^Bsculapius ;  he  was  worshipped  in  the  form  of  a  living  serpent.     The  ancient 
church  of  St.  John,  which  still  exists  there,  is  supposed  to  have  been  transformed 
into  a  church  by  the  early  Christians  from  a  heathen  temple ;  and  the  common 
opinion  is  that  it  was  the  temple  of  .ZEsculapius. 

5  The  metropolis  where  Satan  sits  enthroned.    It  may  have  had  this  bad  pre- 
eminence because  it  was  given  to  idolatry  in  its  grossest  form, — the  worship  of 
ZEsculapius  in  the  form  of  a  living  serpent,  the  serpent  being  with  John  the  symbol 
of  Satan  himself. 

6  Ecclesiastical  history  is  silent  respecting  any  martyr  of  the  name  of  Antipas. 
But  singled  out  as  he  is  here  by  Christ,  his  name  stands  with  perpetual  honour ; 


186  THE   LIFE   AND  WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

martyr,   who  was   slain   among   you,   where    Satan   dwelleth. 

14  But  I  have  a  few  things  against  thee,  because  thou  hast  there 
them  that  hold  the  doctrine  of  Balaam,1  who  taught  Balak  to 
cast  a  stumbling-block  before  the  children  of  Israel,  to  eat 

15  things  sacrificed  unto  idols,  and  to  commit  fornication.     So 
hast  thou  also  them  that  hold  the  doctrine  of  the  Nicolaitans,2 

16  which  thing  I  hate.     Kepent;  or  else  I  will  come  unto  thee 
quickly,  and  will  fight  against  them  with  the  sword  of  My 

17  mouth.     He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the   Spirit 
saith  unto  the  churches ;  To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  give 
to  eat  of  the  hidden  manna,3  and  will  give  him  a  white  stone, 
and  in  the  stone  a  new  name  written,  which  no  man  knoweth 
saving  he  that  receiveth  it. 

no  one  could  aspire  to  a  grander  record.  Hengstenberg  adopts  the  explanation 
that  the  name  is  symbolical,  and  is  formed  of  two  Greek  words,  in  imitation  of  anti- 
Christ,  meaning  one  who  stands  firm  in  the  faith  against  all,  ovrL  TTO.S,  trials  and 
enemies. 

1  The  Judaizers  are  likened  as  to  their  doctrine,  or  the  influence  of  their  teaching, 
to  Balaam,  because  they  placed  a  most  dangerous  trap  or  snare  in  the  path  of  the 
Lord's  people.    Num.  xxv.  1-9,  and  xxxi.  15,  16.     The  apostle  Peter,  in  his  Second 
Epistle,  ii.  10-16,  describes  the  same  evil  workers  under  the  same  name ;  so  also 
Jude  4-16.     The  tendency  of  their  doctrine  was  to  lead  those  who  adopted  it  into 
the  grossest  licentiousness. 

2  The  meaning  is  not  that  this  was  a  second  and  distinct  class  of  seducers,  but 
"  so  also  hast  thou  them  who  seek  to  do  the  same  evil  work  among  you  Balaam 
did  of  old,  the  Nicolaitans."    In  the  oldest  and  best  manuscripts  and  versions, 
such  e.g.  as  the  Sinaitic  and  Alexandrine,  the  adverb  6,uo/a>s,  meaning  "  likewise," 
is  adopted,  in  place  of  the  relative  and  verb  3  /u<rw,  rendered  "  which   thing  I 
hate." 

3  The  promises  to  the  conqueror  admit  him,  in  the  two  preceding  epistles,  to  the 
tree  of  life  in  the  paradise  of  God,  and  secure  him  for  ever  from  the  approach  of 
death.    We  have  here  the  reward  more  fully  described  ;  for  these  promises  at  the 
close  of  the  epistles  are  not  to  be  understood  as  describing  separate  and  distinct 
rewards,  but  rather  as  cumulative,  and  designed  to  set  forth,  in  particulars,  what 
that  one  great  final  reward  consists  in.     The  expression  "  hidden  manna  "  alludes, 
it  is  clear,  to  the  manna  which  was  laid  up  by  Moses  in  the  ark  of  the  testimony. 
As  Christ  now  is  the  Bread  of  Life  (John  vi.  32,  33,  48-50 ;  1  Cor.  x.  3,  4)  to  them 
that  believe  in  Him,  He  will,  in  some  such  sense,  be  as  manna  to  their  souls  in 
heaven.     No  veil  will  be  permitted  to  remain  between  the  redeemed  and  their  Lord, 
hiding  His  glory,  making  Him  as  now  the  hidden  manna.     The  white  stone  with 
the  new  name  written  points  to  the  high-priestly  honours  which  the  Lord  shall 
confer  on  the  victors  in  the  Christian  struggle.     Archbishop  Trench  supposes  that 
there  may  be  in  this  stone  and  its  unknown  name  an  allusion  to  the  Urim  and 
Thummim,  which  the  high-priest  bore  in  the  breastplate  of  judgment  (see  on  Seven 
Epistles).    No  one  but  the  high-priest  knew  what  was  written  on  the  Urim.    No 
one  but  the  saved  sinner  himself  can  know  what  it  will  be  to  find  himself  in  heaven, 
having  the  same  personal  identity,  but  so  different ;  as  if  a  new  name  had  been 
impressed  upon  him,  making  him  a  priest  unto  God  for  ever. 


EEVELATTON  II.  187 

To  Thyatira.  [Ver.  18-29. 

18  And  unto  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Thyatira1  write;  These 
things   saith  the  Son  of  God/  who  hath  His  eyes  like  unto  a 

19  flame  of  fire,  and  His  feet   are  like  fine  brass.     I  know  thy 
works,  and  charity,  and  service,  and  faith,  and  thy  patience,  and 

20 thy  works;  and  the  last  to  be  more  than  the  first.3  Notwith- 
standing I  have  a  few  things  against  thee,  because  thou  sufferest 
that  woman  Jezebel,4  which  calleth  herself  a  prophetess,  to 
teach  and  to  seduce  My  servants  to  commit  fornication,  and  to 

21  eat  things  sacrificed  unto  idols.     And  I   gave  her  space   to 

22 repent  of  her  fornication;  and  she  repented  not.  Behold,  I 
will  cast  her  into  a  bed,  and  them  that  commit  adultery  with 
her  into  great  tribulation,  except  they  repent  of  their  deeds. 

23  And  I  will  kill  her  children  with  death ; 5  and  all  the  churches 

1  Thyatira  is  situated  on  the  borders  of  Mysia  and  Lydia,  a  little  to  the  north-east 
of  the  Eoman  road  from  Pergamos  to  Sardis,  between  forty  and  fifty  miles  south- 
east from  the  former,  and  about  twenty-seven  miles  from  the  latter.    Its  modern  or 
Turkish  name  is  Ak-his-sar,  or  White  Castle,  derived  from  the  white  rocky  hill 
overhanging  it,  where  a  fortress  once  stood.   The  position  of  the  town  is  picturesque, 
extending  far  into  the  plain,  and  surrounded  by  large  and  well  cultivated  gardens. 
It  was  here  that  Antiochus  made  the  head-quarters  of  his  army,  before  the  battle 
with  the  Romans,  under  the  command  of  the  two  Scipios,  in  which  he  was  defeated. 
Thyatira  has  always  borne  the  reputation  of  being  an  industrious,  thriving  city,  and 
still  possesses  a  good  market  for  the  products  of  the  interior.    The  bazaars  are 
large  and  well  supplied.    Large  quantities  of  scarlet  cloth  are  sent  weekly  to  Smyrna ; 
for  it  still  maintains  its  reputation  for  the  dyeing  trade,  for  which  it  has  been 
famous  from  time  immemorial  (Homer,  H.,  iv.,  141).   The  first  person  baptized  on  the 
continent  of  Europe  (at  Philippi)  was  a  native  of  this  city,  a  seller  of  purple  :  Acts 
xvi.  14.     The  ancient  church,  still  traditionally  called  by  the  Christian  inhabitants 
the  church  of  St.  John  the  Theologian  (6  &yios  6eo\6yos),  which  has  been  changed 
into  a  mosque,  stands  in  the  middle  of  the  town.     The  population  numbers  about 
15,000,  of  whom  two  thirds  are  Mohammedans  and  the  remaining  third  nominal 
Christians.     The  whole  trade  here  is  in  the  hands  of  the  Christian  population,  as  it 
generally  is  throughout  the  East ;  the  Christians  comprising  the  most  intelligent  and 
industrious  portion  of  the  population.      (See  Tristram's   Seven  Churches,  with 
Photographs  by  M.  A.  Svobodu,  p.  49.) 

2  In  the  vision  from  which  the  titles  and  attributes  with  which  these  epistles 
are  introduced  are  drawn   (chap.   i.   13-15),  the  Being  who  directs  them  to  be 
written  is  called  "  the  Son  of  man  ;  "  here  He  is  called  "  the  Son  of  God." 

3  The  comparison  is  not  between  the  "works  "  and  the  "  charity  and  service,"  etc., 
but  between  the  works  as  at  first  performed  and  those  of  their  later  Christian  life. 

4  The  activity  and  influence  of  some  female  Judaizer  and  corrupter  may  have 
suggested  the  name  of  Jezebel,  as  another  symbolical  appellation  of  the  class  of 
heretics  pointed  out  in  the  epistle  to  Pergamos  as  Balaamites  and  Nicolaitans,  and 
in  that  to  Ephesus  by  the  latter  name  ;  as  these  churches  all  lying  in  proximity,  in 
the  same  country,  vrould  probably  be  exposed  to  the  same  class. 

5  There  is  an  intensity  of  meaning  in  this  Hebraistic  pleonasm. 


188  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

shall  know  that  I  am  He  which  searcheth  the  reins  and  hearts  i1 
and  I  will  give  unto  every  one  of  you  according  to  your  works. 

24  But  unto  you  I  say,  and  unto  the  rest2  in  Thyatira,  as  many  as 
have  not  this  doctrine,  and  which  have  not  known  the  depths 
of   Satan,  as   they  speak;3   I  will   put  upon  you  none   other 

25  burden.    But  that  which  ye  have  already,  hold*  fast  till  I  come. 

26  And  he  that  overcometh,  and  keepeth  My  works  unto  the  end,  to 

27  him  will  I  give  power  over  the  nations  :5  and  he  shall  rule  them 
with  a  rod  of  iron ;  as  the  vessels  of  a  potter  shall  they  be 

28  broken  to  shivers  :  even  as  I   received  of  My  Father.     And  I 

29  will  give  him  the  morning  star.6     He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him 
hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches. 

III.]  To  8ardif-  [Ver.  1-6. 

1      And  unto  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Sardis7  write ;  These 

things  saith  He  that  hath  the  seven  Spirits  of  God,  and  the 

1  A  claim  of  the  highest  omniscience. 

2  The  Kal  at  the  beginning  of  ver.  24  is  not  in  the  original  in  the  best  copies, 
the  Sinaitic  and  Alexandrine  among  them ;  and  if  left  out  the  sense  is,  "  But  unto 
you,  I  say,  the  rest  in  Thyatira,"  i.e.,  those  who  had  not  been  led  astray  by  the 
false  doctrine. 

3  As  men  are  in  the  habit  of  saying,  or  as  the  professors  of  these  doctrines,  rd 
padta  TOV  ^arava,  say. 

4  Although  their  faith  and  love  were  active,  they  had  an  insufficient  zeal  for  the 
maintenance  of  godly  discipline  and  doctrine.     The  condition  of  things  was  exactly 
the  reverse  of  what  it  was  at  Ephesus. 

5  As  all  the  other  promises  with  which  these  epistles  conclude  referto  heaven,  "  it 
would  seem,"  as  Albert  Barnes  well  remarks  (see  Notes  on  Eevelation,  in  loco),  "  that 
this  should  have  a  similar  reference  ;  for  there  is  no  reason  why  to  him  that  over- 
came in  Thyatira  a  temporal  reward  and  triumph  should  be  promised  more  than  in 
the  cases  of  others.     If  so,  then  this  passage  should  not  be  adduced  as  having  any 
reference  to  an  imaginary  personal  reign  of  the  Saviour,  and  of  the  saints  on  earth." 
As  the   promise  in  the  preceding  epistle  (to  Pergamos)  referred  to  priestly,  this 
clearly  refers  to  the  royal,  honours  which  will  be  bestowed  on  the  overcomers.     As  in 
Christ  they  are  made  priests,  in  Christ  they  are  made  kings  unto  God.    Because 
He  reigns,  they  shall  reign  also.     It  is  just  their  participation  in  the  glories  and 
exaltation  of  the  Eedeemer,  when  He  shall  have  put  all  enemies  under  His  feet. 
The  same  grace  that  gives  them  the  victory  freely  gives  them  all  things,  and  even 
reflects  on  them  the  dignity  and  royalty  of  Him  through  whom  they  are  made 
conquerors. 

c  He  will  make  him  to  shine  with  somewhat  of  His  own  radiance  as  becometh  a 
king  unto  God ;  the  morning  star  here  being  the  symbol  of  royalty  (xxii.  16). 

7  Sardis  was  once  the  proud  capital  of  Lydia,  the  royal  city  of  Croesus,  the 
wealthiest  monarch  of  his  age.  The  site  is  now  a  scene  of  stupendous  desolation. 
It  is  strewn  with  fragments  of  rubbish,  as  if  all  had  been  literally  ground  to  powder, 
excepting  a  few  remains  of  buildings  (see  Tristram's  Seven  Churches).  It  lies  on  the 
side  of  Mount  Tmolus,  from  which  flows  the  river  Pactolus,  which  was  said  to  wash 


REVELATION  III.  189 

seven  stars ;  I  know  thy  works,  that  thou  hast   a  name  that 

-  thou  livest,  and  art  dead.1     Be  watchful,  and  strengthen  the 

things  which  remain,  that   are  ready  to  die :  for  I   have  not 

5  found  thy  works  perfect  before  God.    Remember  therefore  how 

thou  hast  received  and  heard,  and  hold  fast,  and  repent.     If 

therefore  thou  shalt  not  watch,2  I  will  come  on  thee  as  a  thief, 

and  thou  shalt  not  know  what  hour  I  will  come  upon  thee. 

4  Thou  hast  a  few  names  even  in  Sardis  which  have  not  denied 
their  garments  ;  and  they  shall  walk  with  Me  in  white  :  for  they 

5  are  worthy.     He  that  overcometh,  the  same  shall  be  clothed  in 
white  raiment  ;3  and  I  will  not  blot  out  his  name  out  of  the 
book  of  life,  but  I  will  confess  his  name  before  My  Father,  and 

6  before  His  angels.     He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the 
Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches. 

To  Philadelphia. 

[Yer.  7-13. 

And  to  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Philadelphia*  write  ;  These 
things  saith  He  that  is  holy,  He  that  is  true,  He  that  hath  the 

down  golden  sand.  It  was  here  that  Xerxes  assembled  his  army  for  the  expedition 
against  Greece,  whence  he  marched  to  the  Hellespont.  After  the  defeat  of  Antiochus, 
by  the  two  Scipios,  Sardis  was  included  in  the  Eoman  province  of  Asia  and  became 
the  seat  of  the  prefect. 

1  Sardis  had  the  name  of  a  living  church,  while  it  was  really  dead.    But  there 
were  sparks  or  embers  of  life  that  might  be  rekindled. 

2  The  Sin.  and  Alex.  Codd.  have  repent.     "  It  is  very  remarkable  that  precisely 
the  two  churches  which  are  represented  as  the  most  debased,  the  most  complete 
contrasts  to    faithful   Smyrna  and  Philadelphia,    Sardis  and  Laodicea,   had  no 
Nicolaitans  in  them.     A  warning  is  concealed  here,  that  amid  the  dangers  arising 
from   speculative  errors  we    should  not  overlook  those  that  are  still  greater " 
(Hengstenberg). 

3  The  white  vesture  expresses  purity  and  joy.     The  main  import  of  the  promise 
is  that  Christ  will  make  a  public  recognition  before  His  Father,  in  the  presence  of 
the  angels  (Matt.  x.  32,  33  ;  Luke  xii.  8,  9),  of  His  followers. 

4  To  the  south-east  of  Sardis,  about  thirty  miles  distant,  lies  Philadelphia,  on  the 
north-eastern  slope  of  the  range  of  Mount  Tmolus.     The  site  was  selected  as  com- 
manding the  entrance  of  the  valley  of  the  Maeander  on  the  one  side,  and  that  of  the 
Hermus  on  the  other.      It  has  been  more  subject  to  frequent  earthquakes  than  any 
other  city  of  Asia  Minor ;  yet  its  central  position,  and  the  fertility  of  the  surround- 
ing soil,  have  made  it  an  important  place  of  traffic,  as  it  is  to  this  day.     Strabo  ex- 
presses surprise  that  anybody  should  be  found  willing  to  make  a  home  where  dwell- 
ings are  so  insecure  (xiii.  4,  10).       But  it  should  be  remembered  that  he  was 
writing  in  the  time  of  Tiberius,  when  nearly  the  whole  of  Asia  Minor  had  suffered 
very  severely  from  tremendous  earthquakes,  and  Philadelphia  was  nearly  destroyed 
(Tac.  Ann.,  ii.  47).     Though  it  never  was  a  city  to  be  compared  with  Ephesus, 
Sardis,  and  Laodicea,  it  has  survived  them,  and  is  still  inhabited,  surrounded  by 
the  same  walls,  and  covering  the  same  ground  as  of  old.    It  is  remarkable  that  at 


190  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

key  of  David,  He  that  openeth,  and  no  man  shutteth ;  and 

8  shutteth,  and  no  man  c-peneth ;    I  know  thy  works  :  behold,  I 
have  set  before  thee  an  open  door,1  and  no  man  can  shut  it : 
for  thou  hast  a  little  strength,2  and  hast  kept  My  word,  and 

9  hast  not  denied  My  name.     Behold,  I  will  make3  them  of  the 
,  synagogue  of  Satan,  which  say  they  are  Jews,  and  are  not,  but 

do  lie ;  behold,  I  will  make  them  to  come  and  worship  before 

10  thy  feet,  and  to  know  that  I  have  loved  thee.     Because  thou 
hast  kept  the  word  of  My  patience,  I  also  will  keep  thee  from 
the  hour  of  temptation,4  which  shall  come  upon  all  the  world, 

11  to  try  them  that  dwell  upon  the  earth.   Behold,  I  come  quickly : 
hold  that  fast  which  thou  hast,  that  no  man  take  thy  crown. 

12  Him  that  overcometh  will  I  make  a  pillar5  in  the  temple  of  My 
God,  and  he  shall  go  no  more  out :  and  I  will  write  upon  him 
the  name  of  My  God,  and  the  name  of  the  city  of  My  God, 
which  is  new  Jerusalem,  which  cometh  down  out  of  heaven  from 

13  My  God:  and  I  will  write  upon  him  My  new  name.     He  that 
hath   an  ear,   let  him  hear  what   the    Spirit   saith  unto   the 
churches. 

the  present  day,  the  whole  population  being  nearly  15,000,  it  has  some  fifteen 
churches  and  a  bishop,  and  retains  the  free  exercise  of  its  Christian  rites  amd 
ceremonies,  and  the  use  of  church  bells,  which  are  not  allowed  in  any  other  town  in 
the  interior  of  Asia  Minor,  under  Turkish  rule.  For  more  than  300  years,  from  the 
eleventh  century,  Philadelphia  was  continually  exposed  to  the  ravages  of  war  ;  but 
it  bravely  resisted  the  furious  attacks  of  the  Mussulman  hordes,  and  in  the  year 
1391  it  was  the  only  Byzantine  city  in  Asia  Minor  which  had  not  been  taken  by 
the  Turks,  and  when  at  length  it  surrendered  it  was  with  due  honours  and  rights, 
and  the  free  exercise  of  its  religion,  not  granted  to  any  of  its  sister  cities. 

1  It  does  not  mean  an  open  door  of  usefulness  and  privileges,  as  sometimes  inter- 
preted, except  as  these  are  involved  in  the  duties  and  immunities  of  citizenship  in 
the  Divine  kingdom.     The  power  of  the  keys  for  the  exclusion  of  men  from  the 
kingdom  has  not  been  left  in  the  hands  of  their  fellows. 

2  This  refers  to  the  smallness  of  their  number. 

3  In  the  Sinaitic  Codex  it  is,  "  I  have  made." 

4  Their  trials  would  prove  chastisements,  promoting  their  growth  in  grace. 

6  This,  like  the  other  promises  to  the  conqueror,  is  a  promise  of  future  blessed- 
ness. The  figure  of  a  pillar  in  a  temple  ("  to  a  temple,"  Sin.)  is  designed  to  repre- 
sent what  is  expressed  more  plainly  in  the  words,  "  shall  go  no  more  out."  He  shall 
become  a  permanent  element  in  the  heavenly  society.  It  is  a  privilege  he  enjoys  in 
common  with  others,  framed  together  into  an  holy  temple  (Eph.  ii.  21).  Nothing 
can  interrupt  their  vision  of  God ;  nothing  can  impair  their  perfect  communion  with 
one  another. 

"  Non  est  ibi  corruptela, 

Non  defectus,  non  querela  ; 

Non  minuti,  non  deformes, 

Omnes  Christo  sunt  conformes." 


REVELATION   III.  191 

To  the  Laodiceans. 

[Yer.  14-22. 

14  And  unto  the  angel  of  the  church  of  the  Laodiceans l  write ; 
These  things  saith  the  Amen,  the  faithful  and  true  witness 

15  the  beginning  of  the  creation  of  God ;  I  know  thy  works,  that 
thou  art  neither  cold  nor  hot :  I  would  thou  wert  cold2  or  hot, 

16  So  then  because  thou  art  lukewarm,  and  neither  cold  nor  hot. 
17 1  will  spew3  thee  out  of  My  mouth.     Because  thou  sayest,  I 

am  rich,  and  increased  with  goods,  and  have  need  of  nothing ; 
and  knowest  not  that  thou  art  wretched,  and  miserable,  and 
18 poor,  and  blind,  and  naked:4  I  counsel  thee  to  buy5  of  Me 
gold  tried  in  the  fire,  that  thou  mayest  be  rich ;  and  white 
raiment,  that  thou  mayest  be  clothed,  and  that  the  shame  of 
thy  nakedness  do  not  appear ;  and  anoint  thine  eyes  with  eye- 

19  salve,  that  thou  mayest  see.     As  many  as  I  love,  I  rebuke  and 

20  chasten  :  be  zealous  therefore,  and  repent.     Behold,  I  stand  at 
the  door,  and  knock  :  if  any  man  hear6  My  voice,  and  open  the 

1  The  whole  rising  ground  on  which  Laodicea  once  stood  is  one  vast  tumulus  of 
ruins.  Nothing  is  left  to  testify  of  its  grandeur  but  the  silent  stones  of  the  stadium, 
theatres,  and  gymnasium.  It  was  in  this  city  that  the  great  Church  council,  at 
which  the  canon  of  Scripture  was  declared,  A.D.  361,  was  held.  All  is  vanished 
now  ;  no  human  being  has  his  abode  there,  excepting  that  a  few  gipsies  pitch  their 
tents  on  the  plain  during  the  spring,  while  pasturing  their  flocks.  It  is  a  quarry 
for  the  inhabitants  of  a  Turkish  village  near  by,  and  in  a  few  years  will  be  stripped 
of  every  fragment  that  now  attests  its  former  greatness.  In  summer  the  whole  area 
of  the  ancient  city,  once  so  gay  and  populous,  swarms  with  myriads  of  snakes, 
which  make  it  dangerous  for  any  person  to  ramble  about  the  ruins  ;  and  at  other 
seasons  with  wolves  and  foxes.  (See  Tristram's  Seven  Churches.)  The  Sin.  and 
Alex.  Texts  have  "  the  church  in  Laodicea." 

•  Lukewarmness  is  associated  with  self  sufficiency  and  pride,  but  a  painful  con- 
sciousness that  one  is  cold  may  be  the  beginning  of  better  things.  Or  the  cold  may 
be  regarded  as  referring  to  those  who  have  never  been  brought  under  the  influence 
of  grace,  on  whom  the  experiment  of  the  gospel  has  never  been  tried  and  failed. 
It  would  be  better  to  be  like  these  than  like  those  who  under  the  gospel  are  puffed 
up  with  spiritual  pride,  and  feel  that  they  have  need  of  nothing. 

8  The  Sinaitic  has,  "  refrain  thy  mouth." 

4  This  verse  is  not  to  be  taken  as  the  ground  of  the  exhortation  that  follows,  "  I 
counsel  thee,"  etc.,  so  much  as  the  conclusion  or  the  carrying  out  of  that  which  pre- 
cedes it :  "  Because  thou  art  lukewarm  and  sayest  these  things,"  etc. 

5  He  addresses  the  merchant  princes  in  their  own  dialect.     It  was  a  purchase  that 
could  be  made  by  the  most  penniless. 

6  The  voice  probably  refers  to  a  custom  among  the  ancients  of  accompanying 
their  knocking  with  speaking,  to  let  it  be  known  who  was  seeking  admittance. 
The  passage  recognises  in  a  striking  manner  man's  perfect  liberty  or  free  agency 
in  receiving  or  rejecting  the  overtures  of  Divine  mercy.     The  attempt  at  reconcilia- 
tion begins  with  the  Saviour :  He  must  come  to  the  door,  but  He  does  not  force  an 
entrance. 


192  THE   LIFE   AND   WHITINGS    OP   ST.  JOHN. 

door,  I  will  come  in  to  him,  and  will  sup1  with,  him,  and  he 

21  with  Me.     To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  grant  to  sit  with.  Me 
in  My  throne,2  even  as  I  also  overcame,  and  am  set  down  with. 

22  My  Father  in  His  throne.     He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear 
what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches. 

3.  SUBLIME  VISIONS  INTRODUCTORY  TO  THE  MAIN  PROPHECY. 
CHAPS.  IV.  AND  V. 

The  Throne  in  Heaven. 
IV.]  [Ver.  1-11. 

1  After  this3 1  looked,  and,  behold,  a  door4  was  opened  in  heaven : 
and  the  first  voice  which  I  heard  was  as  it  were  of  a  trumpet 
talking  with  me ;  which  said,  Come  up  hither,  and  I  will  show 

2  thee  things  which  must  be  hereafter.5     And  immediately  I  was 
in  the  spirit:6  and,  behold,  a  throne  was  set  in  heaven,  and 

3  One  sat  on  the  throne.7    And  He  that  sat  was  to  look  upon  like 
a  jasper  and  a  sardine  stone  :8  and  there  was  a  rainbow  round 

4  about  the  throne,  in  sight  like  unto  an  emerald.9     And  round 
about  the  throne  were  four  and  twenty  seats  : 10  and  upon  the 

1  This  refers  to  what  'may  be  enjoyed  of  spiritual  communion  in  this  life. 

2  The  Eedeemer  was  exalted  and  enthroned  in  our  nature  ;  and  His  enthronization 
secures  the  exaltation  of  all  who  are  His.    This  promise,  attached  to  the  last  of  the 
series  of  these  seven  epistles,  seems  but  "  a  magnificent  variation  of  Christ's  words 
spoken  in  the  days  of  His  flesh ;  *  The  glory  which  Thou  gavest  Me,'  etc.,  John 
xvii.  22,  24 ;  as  also  of  the  words  of  Paul,  '  If  we  suffer  with  Him,'  etc.,  2  Tim. 
ii.  12.    Wonderful  indeed  is  this  promise,  which,  as  the  last  and  the  crowning,  is 
also  the  highest  and  most  glorious  of  all"  (Trench,  on  Seven  Epistles). 

3  After  these  things,  ravra,  recorded  in  the  preceding  chapters. 

4  John  has  a  vision  as  through  an  open  door,  or  vista,  in  the  expanse  or  firma- 
ment above  him,  into  heaven. 

5  He  is  summoned  up  to  heaven,  that  the  things  of  the  future  might  be  revealed 
to  him. 

6  Immediately  he  was  lifted  spiritually  above  all  sublunary,  and  placed  amidst 
heavenly,  things  ;  as  if  he  had  been  brought  into  the  very  presence  chamber  of  the 
Divine  Eevealer. 

7  In  the  A.V.  the  word  "  One  "  has  the  usual  indication  of  not  being  in  the 
original ;  no  name  or  pronoun  is  given  ;  the  PEBSON  implied  is  left  to  be  supplied 
from  His  attributes,  which  are  mentioned. 

8  There  is  in  this  no  attempt  to  represent  His  form,  only  His  splendour,  the 
majesty  and  glory  of  the  Lord. 

9  2fMpa.ySlv(ft  Wiclif  has  "  smaragdyn."    The  emerald  or  green  rays  predominated 
in  the  bow ;  which,  it  is  said,  has  been  observed,  when  the  storm  was  at  a  distance 
too  remote  to  reach  us  with  its  fury. 

10  6p6voi,  thrones,  not  seats.    They  may  be  supposed  to  have  been  smaller  than 
THE  THEONE. 


REVELATION    IV.  193 

seats  I  saw  four  and  twenty  elders1  sitting,  clothed  in  white 

5  raiment ;  and  they  had  on  their  heads  crowns  of  gold.     And  out 
of  the  throne  proceeded  lightnings  and  thunderings  and  voices  : 
and  there  were  seven  lamps2  of  fire  burning  before  the  throne, 

6  which  are  the  seven  Spirits  of  God.     And  before  the  throne 
there  was  a  sea  of  glass3  like  unto  crystal:  and  in  the  midst  of 
the  throne  and  round  about  the  throne,  were  four  beasts4  full  of 

7  eyes  before  and  behind.    And  the  first  beast  ivas  like  a  lion,  and 
the  second  beast  like  a  calf,  and  the  third  beast  had  a  face  as 

8  a  man,  and  the  fourth  beast  was  like  a  flying  eagle.5     And  the 
four  beasts  had  each  of  them  six  wings  about  Mm ;  and  they 
were  full  of  eyes6  within  :  and  they  rest7  not  day  and  night, 
saying,  Holy,  holy,  holy,  Lord  God  Almighty,  which  was,  and 

9  is,  and  is  to  come.     And  when8  those  beasts  give  glory  and 

1  That  the  four-and-twenty  elders  clad  in  white,  with  crowns  of  gofd,  sitting  on 
the    thrones  which    are  ranged  about  the  chief  or  central  throne,  represent  the 
human  element  in  the  Church  triumphant,  appears  from  chap.  v.  8-10,  where  they  are 
described  as  singing  the  new  song,  "  Thou  hast  redeemed  us  to  God  by  Thy  blood." 
"  It  is  the  totality  of  the  saints  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  who  are  here  repre- 
sented by  their  chiefs  or  leaders,"  says  Bossuet.     "  Those  of  the  Old  appeared  in 
the  twelve  patriarchs  ;  and  those  of  the  New  in  the  twelve  apostles."     He  discovers 
the  same  'totality  indicated  in  the  twelve  gates,  and  the  twelve  foundations  of  the 
holy  city,  bearing  the  names  of  the  twelve  tribes  and  the  twelve  apostles :  Eev.  xxi. 
12,  14. 

2  These  lamps,  said  to  be  the  seven  spirits  of  God,  refer  (see  chap.  i.  4)  to  the 
diverse  operations  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

3  The  pavement,  or  floor,  on  which  the  whole  stood,  was  clear,  transparent,  like 
crystal  or  glass,  and  spread  out  in  all  directions  like  a  sea.     Exod.  xxiv.  10. 

4  The  translation  four  beasts,  found  in  Wiclif,  Tyndale,  Cranmer,  the  Geneva, 
and  the  Eheims,  as  well  as  in  the  A.V.,  is  an  unhappy  one.     The  original,  £G>ov,  is 
very  different  from  that  translated  beast,  6?]plov,  elsewhere  in  this  book,  and  means 
a  creature  having  life,  an  animal.     In  the  LXX.  it  is  used  for  j"ITT  (Ezek.  i.  5),  and 

in  our  version  is  rendered  living  creature.  Here,  as  in  Ezekiel,  they  are  symbolical, 
and  designed  to  represent  the  providential  government  of  God  in  its  great  leading 
aspects. 

6  This  providence,  like  the  lion  in  the  forest,  is  of  irresistible  sway ;  like  the  ox 
under  the  yoke,  is  patient  and  strong,  however  slow  ;  like  the  face  of  a  man,  which 
bespeaks  reason  and  intelligence,  is  possessed  of  all  the  features  of  wisdom  ;  like  the 
eagle,  it  is  penetrating  in  its  vision,  and  rapid  in  the  execution  of  its  purposes.  See 
Mr.  Layard's  comments  on  the  symbolism  of  certain  images  found  in  the  ruins  of 
Nineveh  ;  Nineveh  and  its  Environs,  i.  75,  76. 

6  A  further  carrying  out  of  the  idea  of  that  universal  survey,  or  knowledge  of 
affairs,  which  pertains  to  the  providence  of  God. 

7  There  is  no  interruption  or  cessation  in  the  honour  God  receives  from  the  various 
dispensations  and  acts  of  His  providence. 

6  There  is  a  response  to  the  cry  or  doxology  of  the  four  living  creatures,  from  the 
elders  who  represent  the  redeemed  in  heaven.  They  fall  down  before  Him  that 


194  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OP   ST.  JOHN. 

honour  and  thanks  to  Him  that  sat  on  the  throne,  who  liveth 

10  for  ever  and  ever,  the  four  and  twenty  elders  fall  down  before 
Him  that  sat  on  the  throne,  and  worship  Him  that  liveth  for 
ever  and  ever,  and  cast  their  crowns  before  the  throne,  saying, 

11  Thou  art  worthy,  O  Lord,  to  receive  glory  and  honour  and 
power :  for  Thou  hast  created  all  things,  and  for  Thy  pleasure 
they  are  and  were  created. 

The  slain  Lamb  in  the  midst  of  the  Throne. 
V.]  [Ver.  1-7. 

1  And  I  saw  in  the  right  hand  of   Him  that  sat  on  the  throne 
a  book 1  written  within  and  on  the  back  side,  sealed  with  seven 

2  seals.2     And  I  saw  a  strong  angel  proclaiming  with  a   loud 
voice,  Who  is  worthy3  to  open  the  book,  and  to  loose  the  seals 

3  thereof  ?     And  no  man4  in  heaven,  nor  in  earth,  neither  under 
the  earth,  was  able  to  open  the  book,  neither  to  look  thereon. 

4  And  I  wept5  much,  because  no  man  was  found  worthy  to  open 

liveth  for  ever  and  ever,  and  cast  their  crowns  before  the  throne,  crying,  "  Thou  art 
worthy,"  etc. 

The  impressive  nature  of  the  whole  scene,  as  presented  to  the  banished  apostle, 
is  calculated  to  strike  every  intelligent  mind.  Heaven  is  opened.  The  throne  of 
God  is  seen  ;  and  there  is  a  vision  of  Him  who  sits  upon  it.  Thunders  and  voices 
are  heard  about  the  throne.  The  lightnings  play  ;  but  the  bow,  symbol  of  peace, 
encircles  all.  A  vast  crystal  pavement,  supporting  all,  is  spread  out  like  a  sea. 
The  representatives  of  the  redeemed  Church,  in  robes  of  victory,  occupy  subordinate 
thrones.  Embodiments  of  the  power,  the  patient  endurance,  the  slow  but  sure  un- 
foldings,  the  wisdom  and  the  benevolence,  and  the  activity  of  the  Divine  adminis- 
tration, praise  God.  They  are  answered  in  a  sublime  anthem  by  the  representatives 
of  the  redeemed  Church.  All  this,  however,  was  but  introductory  to  the  next 
vision. 

1  A  sealed  book  is  a  fitting  emblem  of  the  future.    Its  opening  by  a  Divine  hand 
was  symbolical  of  the  making  known  of  future  events.     In  this  sealed  book  was  the 
whole  prophecy  revealed  to  John,  as  recorded  from  the  sixth  chapter  to  the  end.    As 
stated  in  the  first  verse  of  the  first  chapter  of  the  Apocalypse,  many  of  the  things  re- 
corded were  presented  to  John  by  symbols,  probably  pictures  of  some  kind,  as  the  book 
was  unsealed  and  unrolled ;  "He  sent  and  (ea'fiiJ.avev)  symbolised  it  by  His  angel  to  His 
servant  John."     "  Many  of  the  sudden  changes  in  moods  and  tenses  which  occur, 
and  which  hasty  critics  have  presumed  to  stigmatize,"  would  have  been  seen  to  be 
required  by  the  nature  of  the  detail,  if  they  had  considered  that  the  writer,  besides 
describing  other  circumstances  of  the  visions,  gives  an  account  of  things,  circum- 
stances, and  actions  seen  by  him  in  pictorial  representations  in  the  book,  as  it  was 
unrolled.     See  Tilloch's  Dissertations,  p.  173. 

2  These  seals  were  so  affixed  that  whenever  one  was  broken  only  that  part  of  the 
roll  to  which  it  applied  was  opened. 

3  Who  is  of  sufficient  dignity  or  able  » 

4  No  one  came  forward  at  the  call  of  the  angel  out  of  all  those  wide  realms  through 
which  his  voice  reverberated. 

5  "  It  seemed  as  if  matters  were  coming  to  an  end  with  the  kingdom  of  Christ. 


REVELATION   V.  195 

5  and  to  read  the  book,  neither  to  look  thereon.     And  one  of  the 
elders  saith  unto  me,  Weep  not :  behold,  the  Lion  of  the  tribe 
of  Juda,1  the  Root2  of  David,  hath  prevailed  to  open  the  book, 

6  and  to  loose  the  seven  seals  thereof.     And  I  beheld,  and,  lo,  in 
the  midst  of  the  throne  and  of  the  four  beasts,  and  in  the  midst 
of  the  elders,  stood  a  Lamb3  as  it  had  been  slain,  having  seven 
horns  and  seven  eyes,  which  are  the  seven  Spirits  of  God  sent 

7  forth  into  all  the  earth.     And  He  came  and  took4  the  book  out 
of  the  right  hand  of  Him  that  sat  upon  the  throne. 

The  Honour  paid  to  the  Lamb. 

[Ver.  8-14. 

8  And  when  He  had  taken  the  book,  the  four  beasts  and  four 
and  twenty  elders  fell  down  5  before  the  Lamb,  having  every 
one  of  them  harps,6  and  golden  vials 7  full  of  odours,  which  are 

The  present  was  despaired  of ;  the  future  was  dark ;  no  answer  could  be  found  to  the 
anxious  question,  What  shall  be  the  end  thereof  ?  "     (Hengstenberg.) 

1  See  the  genealogies  in  Matthew  and  Luke,  and  Heb.  vii.  14. 

2  The  product  of  the  root,  its  shoot,  the  root-shoot  of  David. 

3  The  elder  had  spoken  of  a  lion,  and  John  beholds  only  a  little  lamb  (the  original 
here  is  apviov,  lambkin),  as  it  had  been  slain.     This  was  He  foretold  by  the  pro- 
phet (Isa.  liii.  7),  who  should  be  brought  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter,  who  was  pointed 
out  by  John  the  Baptist,  as  the  Lamb  of  God,  that  should  bear  the  sin  of  the  world 
(John  i.  29). 

4  It  is  not  necessary  to  suppose  that  John  saw  literally  a  lamb,  which  is  to  be 
taken  symbolically  like  the  living  creatures  ;  for  the  Lamb  is  described  as  coming 
and  taking  the  book,  which  would  be  an  incongruity  not  easily  reconciled,  even  in  a 
book  abounding  with  such  remarkable  symbols.     St.  John,  in  this  instance,  uses 
language  precisely  as  the  prophet  Isaiah  and  John  the  Baptist  did,  and  does  not 
mean  to  present  so  incongruous  a  picture  as  that  of  a  lamb  approaching  the  throne, 
and  taking  a  book.     He  refers  to  the  exalted  Saviour's  appearance  of  meekness  and 
innocence,  and  the  atoning  work  He  had  accomplished  by  His  death,  of  which  He 
still  bore  some  visible  signs.     There,  in  the  midst  of  the  throne,  was  the  crucified 
Jesus,  bearing  in  His  glorified  body  some  monuments  of  His  passion.  "  These  signs 
of  death  are  the  emblems  of  victory,  worn  by  the  conqueror  ;  the  banner  which  floats 
over  Him  is  emblazoned  with  his  enterprise,"  etc.,  etc.     (See  an  excellent  sermon 
on  this  subject  by  the  late  Dr.  Erskine  Mason  :  Sermons,  p.  47). 

5  From  this  it  is  plain  that  the  four  living  creatures  have  not  their  proper  place 
assigned  them  by  Stuart,  Hengstenberg,  Barnes,  and  others,  who  represent  them 
as  supporting  the  throne,  or  under  it,  as  to  their  bodies.     The  Lamb  is  honoured 
both  by  providence  and  redemption,  in  a  solemn  act  of  adoration. 

6  It  is  the  elders  alone  who  have  the  harps.     This  the  construction,  no  less  than 
the  propriety,  of  the  case  seems  to  demand.    The  words  in  the  song,  "  Thou  hast 
redeemed  us,"  ver.  9,  also  make  this  evident. 

'  Censers  rather,  a  plate  or  dish  of  flat  expanded  form  (<f>id\rj,  patera),  is  meant, 
yet  all  the  six  versions  in  Bagster's  English  Hexapla  have  vials.  Now  the  elders 
struck  their  harps,  and  now  they  wafted  incense,  which  represented  the  prayers  of 
saints.  They  are  not  mediators  or  intercessors,  as  there  is  but  one  Mediator,  the 
glorious  MAN  before  whom  these  censers  are  waved.  The  prayers  of  saints  rise  as  a 


196  THE   LIFE   AND  WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

9  the  prayers  of  saints.     And   they  sung  a  new1  song,  saying, 
Thou  art  worthy  to  take  the  book,  and  to  open  the  seals  there- 
of: for  Thou  wast  slain,  and  hast  redeemed  us  to  God  by  Thy 
blood  out  of  every  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people,  and  nation ; 

10  and  hast  made  us  unto  our  God  kings  and  priests  : 2  and  we  shall 

11  reign  on  the  earth.     And  I  beheld,  and  I  heard  the  voice  of 
many  angels  round  about  the  throne,  and  the  beasts,  and  the 
elders  :  and  the  number  of  them  was  ten  thousand   times  ten 

12 thousand,  and  thousands  of  thousands;3  saying  with  a  loud 
voice,  Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain  to  receive  power,  and 
riches,  and  wisdom,  and  strength,  and  honour,  and  glory,  and 

13  blessing.     And  every  creature  which  is  in  heaven,  and  on  the 
earth,  and  under  the  earth,  and  such  as  are  in  the  sea,  and  all  that 
are  in  them,  heard  I  saying,  Blessing,4  and  honour,  and  glory, 
and  power,  be  unto  Him  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto 

14  the  Lamb  for  ever  and  ever.     And  the  four  beasts  said,  Amen.5 
And  the  four  and  twenty  elders  fell  down  and  worshipped  Him 
that  liveth  for  ever  and  ever. 

4.  OVERTHROW  OF  THE  JEWISH  PERSECUTING  POWER. 
CHAP.  VI.  TO  XI.  1-14. 

The  first  Five  Seals,  or  Signs  of  the  Destruction  of  Jerusalem. 
VI.]  [Ver.  1-11- 

1       And  I  saw  when  the  Lamb  opened  one  of  the  seals,  and  I 

sweet  savour  before  God.  What  more  delightful  emblem  could  there  be  of  the  accept- 
ableness  of  prayers  offered  in  the  name  of  Christ,  than  to  call  them  sweet  odours  in 
the  censers  of  the  representatives  of  the  church  before  the  throne  ? 

1  New  because  it  struck  notes  which  never  would  have  been  heard  in  the  songs  of 
heaven  if  Jesus  had  not  died.     The  language  is  such  as  could  be  used  only  if  Christ 
was  truly  an  atoning  sacrifice. 

2  The  Sinaitie  MS.  has  it,  a  kingdom  and  priesthood. 

3  A  great  throng  of  angels  are  represented  as  standing  in  a  circle,  enclosing  the 
area  occupied  by  the  throne,  the  living  creatures,  and  the  elders,  and  uniting  in  as- 
cribing honour  to  the  Lamb.     They  can  sing,  "  Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain," 
but  cannot  add,  "  and  hast  redeemed  us  to  God  by  Thy  blood." 

4  The  word  "  blessing,"  with  which  the  angels  closed  their  song,  was  taken  up  by 
the  whole  creation,  and  with  it,  "  honour,  glory,  and  power,"  were  made  to  echo  and 
re-echo  through  heaven  and  earth,  over  the  sea  as  well  as  the  dry  land.    We  have 
had  in  these  two  chapters  two  songs  in  honour  of  Jehovah  (chap,  iv.),  and  two  in 
honour  of  the  Lamb  (chap,  v.)  ;  and  this  concluding  song  of  all  creatures  has  respect 
to  both  Jehovah  and  the  Lamb,  and  therefore  combines  both  adorations  into  one. 

5  AMEN,  cried  the  living  creatures.     The  praise,  having  made  the  circuit  of  the 
universe,  centres  back  again  to  those  who  began  it,  and  dies  away  as  the  elders  fall 
in  lowly  homage  before  the  throne  of  "  Him  that  liveth  for  ever  and  ever." 


REVELATION   VI.  197 

heard,  as  it  were  the  noise  of  thunder,  one  of  the  four  beasts l 

2  saying,  Come  and  see.     And  I  saw,  and  behold  a  white  horse  :2 
and  He  that  sat  on  him  had  a  bow ;  and  a  crown  was  given  unto 

3  Him  :  and  He" went  forth  conquering,  and  to  conquer.3      And 
when  He  had  opened  the  second  seal,  I  heard  the  second  beast 

4  say,  Come  and  see;  and  there  went  out  another  horse  that  was 
red  :4  and  power  was  given  to  him  that  sat  thereon  to  take  peace 
from  the  earth,  and  that  they  should  kill  one  another  :  and 

5  there  was  given  unto  him  a  great  sword.     And  when  He  had 
opened  the  third  seal,  I  heard  the  third  beast  say,  Come  and 

The  First  Seal. 

1  In  each  of  the  first  four  seals,  one  of  the  four  living  creatures  says,  "  Come  and 
see ;  "  and  a  horse  of  a  different  colour  in  each  also  appears.    In  the  last  three  the 
living  creatures  are  not  mentioned,  neither  is  there  any  horse.      These  living  crea- 
tures are  symbols  of  the  Divine  providential  government  (chap.  iv.  6),  hence  the  fit- 
ness of  their  prominence  here. 

2  The  white  horse,  frnro*  \evKbs,  the  bow,  and  the  crown,  are  emblems  of  triumph 
and  royalty.  The  imagery  is  largely  derived  from  the  Messianic  psalm,  xlv.  3-5.   See 
also  Eev.  xix.  11.     Christ  leads  in  the  procession  that  passes  before  the  prophet's  eye, 
and  the  victories  He  achieves  are  in  the  interest  of  His  gospel  of  peace  and  salvation. 
White  horses  were  not  chosen  for  war,  but  for  occasions  of  celebrating  victories,  when 
the  conqueror  was  received  at  his  capital.  This  prophecy  is  intended  to  bring  conso- 
lation to  the  Church  ;  and  hence  the  image  of  her  heavenly  King,  at  its  very  opening, 
is  placed  before  her  eyes,  as  He  goes  forth  with  invincible  might,  to  win  a  sure  and 
glorious  victory.     The  emblem  is  adapted  to  the  mild  and  beneficent  victories  of 
Christ,  by  His  word  and  Spirit,  in  the  conversion  of  sinners. 

3  It  was  foretold  by  our  Lord  as  one  of  the  signs  of  the  near  approach  of  the  de- 
struction of  Jerusalem,  that  the  gospel  should  "  be  preached  in  all  the  world  for  a 
witness  unto  all  nations,  and  then  shall  the  end  come"  (Matt.  xxiv.  14)  ;  i.e.,  the  end 
of  the  Jewish  polity.    And  before  the  time  of  the  end  it  had  been  preached  in  Asia 
Minor,  Greece,  and  Italy,  those  great  centres  of  action,  and  was  propagated  as  far  to 
the  north  as  Scythia,  as  far  south  as  Ethiopia,  as  far  east  as  Parthia  and  India,  and 
as  far  west  as  Spain  and  Britain.    Christians  had  become  ingens  multitude,  scat- 
tered over  the  Eoman  empire.     See  Tacitus,  Ann.,  xv. 

The  Second  Seal. 

4  Flame  coloured,  7rv/>p6s,  or  fiery  red.    It  is  not  war  so  much  as  discord  and  per- 
secution which  it  is  the  object  of  the  symbols  here  to  set  before  us  ;  variance  and 
strife,  the  effect  of  a  fiery  zeal,  without  charity,  were  to  prevail.     See  what  Christ 
Himself  had  said,  Matt.  x.  34-36.     And  here  we  have  another  of  those  signs  which 
our  Lord  foretold  as  indicating  that  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  was  at  hand : 
Matt.  xxiv.  10 ;  Luke  xxi.  12,  16.     The  Acts  of  the  Apostles  proves  how  the 
spirit  of  persecution  on  the  part  of  the  Jews  raged  against  any  of  their  kinsmen 
according  to  the  flesh  who  professed  their  faith  in  Christ.     See  also  2  Tim.  iv. 
10,  16  ;  Phil.  i.  15,  16.    Tacitus  says  that  some  "  that  were  seized  confessed  their 
sect,  and  that  by  their  indication  a  great  multitude  were  convicted."    (Ann.  xv.  44.) 
The  apostates  and  informers  spoken  of  by  Tacitus  were  no  doubt  employed  by  Nero 
to  accomplish  his  cruel  purposes. 


198  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

see.     And  I  beheld,  and  lo  a  black  horse  ; 1  and  he  that  sat  on 

6  him  had  a  pair  of  balances  in  his  hand.     And  I  heard  a  voice  in 
the   midst  of  the  four  beasts  say,  A  measure 2  of  wheat  for  a 
penny,  and  three  measures  of  barley  for  a  penny ;  and  see  thou 

7  hurt  not  the  oil  and  the  wine.     And  when  He  had  opened  the 
fourth  seal,  I  heard  the  voice  of  the  fourth  beast  say,  Come  and 

8  see.    And  I  looked,  and  behold  a  pale  horse  : 3  and  his  name  that 
sat  on  him  was  Death,  and  Hell  followed  with  him.     And  power 
was  given  unto  them  over  the  fourth 4  part  of  the  earth,  to  kill 
with  sword,  and  with  hunger,  and  with  death,  and  with  the 

9  beasts  of  the  earth.     And  when  He  had  opened  the  fifth  seal,  I 

The  Third  Seal 

1  "ITTTTOS  ju&as.     The  colour  of  the  horse  denotes  merely  mourning  or  distress. 
The  balances  (or  beam  of  a  pair  of  scales,  £vybv,)  are  a  symbol  of  scarcity.     See 
Ezek.  iv.  10,  16  ;  Lev.  xxvi.  26. 

2  Xolfi^,  a  name  for  a  species  of  dry  measure,  equal  to  about  a  quart.    Wetstein 
has  shown  that  it  was  the  ordinary  daily  allowance  for  the  sustenance  of  a  man,  from 
Homer  and  others.     See  Odyss.,  xix.  27,  28 ;  Herod.,  vii.  231 ;  Xen.  Anab.,  i.  5,  6. 
Taking  the  denarius,  or  penny,  as  the  usual  price  of  a  day's  labour,  it  would  require 
all  that  the  labourer  could  earn  for  his  own  sustenance.  If  barley,  the  common  food 
of  the  poor,  were  used,  there  would  be  a  small  allowance  for  his  family  left  over.     It 
is  not  therefore  absolute  famine,  but  scarcity,  which  is  pointed  out  by  these  symbols. 
Famines  were  among  the  signs,  pointed  out  by  the  Saviour,  of  the  speedy  destruction 
of  Jerusalem :  Matt.  xxiv.  7.     The  famine  foretold  Acts  xi.  27-30,  which  was  to 
come  to  pass  in  the  reign  of  Claudius  Caesar,  extended  over  Judaea,  and  lasted  with 
severity  several  years.    Josephus  gives  a  particular  account  of  it :  Antiq.,  xx.  2  (5). 
There    was    another  mentioned  by  Tacitus,  Ann.  xii.  43;    and    by    Suetonius, 
Claud.,  18. 

The  Fourth  Seal. 

3  The  word  translated  pale  is  used  by  Homer,  II.,  vii.  479,  in  the  same  sense.    A 
hue  suggesting  the  cadaverous  is  here  intended.     The  rider  of  this  horse,  Death, 
has  the  article  in  the  Greek,  the  death.    Hell,  or  hades,  here  has  commonly  been 
understood  as  having  the  same  sense  as  sheol  in  the  0.  T.,  e.g.  Isa.  xiv.  9,  where 
sheol,  or  hell,  is  represented  as  stirring  up  all  its  dead  to  advance  and  taunt  the 
fallen  king  of  Babylon,  as  he  arrives  among  them.     Here  it  is  hades  and  not 
gehenna  that  is  employed.    Death  appears,  followed  by  the  subjects  of  his  pale 
kingdom. 

4  In  respect  to  "  the  fourth  part,"  Hengstenberg  and  Stuart  suggest  that  the  de- 
sign here  is  to  predict  only  "  the  beginning  of  sorrows,"  Matt.  xxiv.  8.     To  "  kill 
with  the  sword  "  means  of  course  war.    Death  never  appears  in  more  awful  majesty 
as  the  king  of  terrors,  with  hell  following,  than  when,  in  fiercely  fought  battles,  men 
by  hundreds  and  thousands  are  scattered  as  ghastly  corpses  over  the  ground.     As 
many  perhaps  perish  by  hunger,  pestilence,  etc.,  as  in  battle  itself.     The  Hebrew 
word  meaning  pestilence  is  rendered  by  the  Greek  word  meaning  death  more  than 
thirty  times  in  the  Septuagint.  "  Death,"  says  Bengel,  "  properly  means  pestilence  ; 
and  yet  we  can  understand  by  it  earthquakes,  destruction  by  fire,"  etc.     And  in  the 
prophecy   of    our  Saviour,  Matt.   xxiv.  6-8,    we  find  earthquakes  added  to  this 
catalogue  of  judgments. 


REVELATION    VI.  199 

saw1  under  the  altar  the  souls  of  them  that  were  slain  for  the 

10  word  of  God,  and  for  the  testimony  which  they  held  :  and  they 
cried  with  a  loud  voice,  saying,  How  long,  O  Lord,  holy  and 
true,  dost  Thou  not  judge  and  avenge  our  blood  on  them  that 

11  dwell  on  the  earth?  And  white  robes  were  given  unto  every  one 
of  them ;  and  it  was  said  unto  them,  that  they  should  rest  yet 
for  a   little   season,  until  their  fellowservants  also  and  their 
brethren,  that  should  be  killed  as  they  were,  should  be  ful- 
filled. 

The  Sixth  Seal. 

[Ver.  12-17. 

12  And  I  beheld  when  He  had  opened  the  sixth  seal,2  and,  lo, 
there  was  a  great  earthquake  ;3  and  the  sun  became  black  as 

13 sackcloth  of  hair,   and  the  moon  became  as    blood;  and  the 

stars4  of  heaven  fell  unto  the  earth,  even  as  a  fig  tree  casteth 

14  her  untimely  figs,  when  she  is  shaken  of  a  mighty  wind.     And 

The  Fifth  Seal. 

1  We  are  not  to  forget  that  the  scene  is  laid  in  heaven,  and  that  what  John  sees  are 
symbols,  as  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  opens  the  book.    Allusion  is  doubtless  had  to  the 
victims  of  the  persecutions  referred  to  under  the  second  seal,  and  those  of  the  perse- 
cution then  raging  under  Nero,  from  which  he  himself  was  suffering.     The  cry  of 
these  martyrs  fitly  comes  in  here  after  the  preparation  for  or  signs  of  approaching 
judgments  in  the  preceding  seals.     John  sees  them  clothed  in  white  robes.     The 
action  or  representation  under  this  seal  clearly  reveals  persecution  as  then  in  pro- 
gress.    The  edicts  of  Nero  were  being  "  carried  into  effect  throughout  all  the  pro- 
vinces."    Tertullian  in  Apologet.,  c.  iv.,  p.  46,  edit.  Havere.     See  Mosheim's  Hist., 
Cent.  I.,  34. 

The  Sixth  Seal. 

2  The  relative  importance  of  this  seal  may  be  inferred  from  the  larger  space 
devoted  to  it  in  the  prophecy.     The  preceding  pointed  to  mere  signs,  or  premo- 
nitions ;  this  brings  us  nearer  to  the  catastrophe,  and  enters  upon  it ;  which  however 
is  suspended,  and  not  really  consummated,  until  six  of  the  seven  trumpets  under  the 
seventh  seal  are  blown.     For  the  use  of  the  imagery  in  this  seal  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, when  calamitous  events  are  for  the  most  part  referred  to,  see  Isa.  xiii.  10, 
concerning  the  judgments  on  Babylon ;  Jer.  iv.  23,  24,  with  reference  to  Judaea ; 
Ezek.  xxxii.  7,  to  Egypt ;  Joel  ii.  10,  31,  Jerusalem. 

3  Earthquakes  denote  revolutions  in  nations,  brought  about  by  bloody  wars.     The 
darkening  of   the  heavenly  bodies  may  denote  the  obscuration  produced  by  the 
smoke  and  gloomy  vapour  which  usually  attend  earthquakes  in  volcanic  countries  ; 
or  it  may  refer  to  eclipses,  regarded  with  great  terror  by  the  common  people.    In 
the  Greek  the  expression  is  the  whole  or  full  moon,  y  aeK-fivy  6\rj.      The  Sin.    and 
Alex.  Codd.  both  have  "  the  whole  moon."      For  the  correspondence  between  the 
things  here  disclosed  and  the  predictions  of  our  Saviour,  see  Matt.  xxiv.  29,  Luke 
xxi.  25,  26.    We  have  in  this  seal  a  prediction  of  the  convulsions  and  revolutions 
immediately  preceding  the  destruction  of  the  Jewish  ecclesiastical  and  civil  polity. 

4  Jewish  rulers,  elders,  and  priests. 


200  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

the  heaven1  departed  as  a  scroll2  when  it  is  rolled  together  ;  and 
every  mountain  and  island  were  moved  out  of  their  places. 

15  And  the  kings3  of  the  earth,  and  the  great  men,  and  the  rich 
men,  and  the  chief  captains,  and  the  mighty  men,  and  every 
bondman,  and  every  free  man,  hid  themselves  in  the  dens  and 

16 in  the  rocks  of  the  mountains;  and  said  to  the  mountains  and 
rocks,  Fall  on  us,  and  hide  us  from  the  face  of  Him  that  sitteth  on 

17  the  throne,  and  from  the  wrath  of  the  Lamb  :  for  the  great  day4 
of  His  wrath  is  come ;  and  who  shall  be  able  to  stand  ? 

VII.]  [Vcr.  1-17. 

1  And  after  these  things5 1  saw  four  angels  standing  on  the  four 
corners  of  the  earth,  holding  the  four  winds6  of  the  earth,  that 
the  wind  should  not  blow  on  the  earth,  nor  on  the  sea,  nor  on 

2  any  tree.     And  I  saw  another  angel 7  ascending  from  the  east, 
having  the  seal  of  the  living  God  :  and  he  cried  with  a  loud  voice 
to  the  four  angels,  to  whom  it  was  given  to  hurt  the  earth  and 

3  the  sea,  saying,  Hurt  not  the  earth,  neither  the  sea,  nor  the 
trees,  till  we  have  sealed8  the  servants  of  our  God  in  their  fore- 

4  heads.     And  I  heard  the  number  of  them  which  were  sealed  : 

1  The  heaven  out  of  which  the  stars  fell,  the  entire  ecclesiastical  system,  rites,  and 
worship  of  the  Jews. 

2  Sheets  on  which  books  were  written  were  parchment.    Having  once  been  rolled 
up,  when  left  to  themselves  they  would  tend  to  fly  back,  and  resume  the  form  of  a 
roll.     The  common  conception  of  the  heavens  in  Hebrew  poetry  was  that  of  a  tent 
or  curtain  stretched  over  the  earth :  Ps.  civ.  2,  Isa.  xl.  22. 

3  Doubtless  used  in  a  wide  sense,  to  designate  the  governors  and  viceroys  who 
ruled  over  Judaea.     The  words  to  these  kings  and  high  officials  are  not  those  which, 
with  any  verisimilitude,  could  be  put  into  the  mouths  of  heathen  Gentiles. 

4  The  destruction  of  Jerusalem  with  the  Jewish  commonwealth,  in  the  Scriptures, 
and  especially  by  our  Saviour,  is  set  as  a  type  of  an  unspeakably  more  momentous 
event,  the  end  and  judgment  of  the  world :  Matt.  xxiv.  30,  31. 

5  This  seventh  chapter  is  a  continuation  of  the  sixth  seal.    The  tornado  of  judg- 
ments just  ready  to  smite  is  arrested.     If  any  should  prefer  to  regard  verses  9-17 
as  an  episode,  it  is  an  episode  to  relieve  the   scenes  of  woe,  and  bring  into  vivid 
contrast  the  kingdom  in  its  fulness  with  that   kingdom,  when  only  "  the  first  fruits 
unto  God  and  the  Lamb"  (Eev.  xiv.  4)  had  been  gathered  into  it. 

6  Winds  are  symbols  of  Divine  judgments  :   1  Kings  xix.  11,  Job  ix.  17,  but  espe- 
cially Jer.  xlix.  36,  Dan.  vii.  2,  Zech.  vi.  1-5.     The  four  winds  are  here  represented 
as  spirits  impatient  to  be  let  loose,  and  just  ready  to  be  let  loose,  when  suddenly 
there  is  an  arrest. 

7  Hengstenberg    supposes  that   we  must  understand  Christ    sent  by  God  the 
Father,  the  epithet  angel  denoting  not  the  nature  but  the  mission. 

3  The  sealing  is  analogous  to  the  marks  placed  on  the  dwellings  of  the  Hebrews 
that  night  when  the  destroying  angel  passed  over  Egypt.  It  was  symbolical  of  the 
truth  that,  in  the  midst  of  the  impending  judgments,  God's  grace  would  be  upon 
them,  and  His  protecting  hand  deliver  them. 


REVELATION     VII.  201 

and  there  were   sealed  a  hundred  and   forty  and  four   thou- 

5  sand1  of  all  the  tribes  of  the  children  of  Israel.     Of  the  tribe  of 
Juda2  were  sealed  twelve  thousand.     Of  the  tribe  of  Reuben  were 
sealed  twelve  thousand.  .  Of  the  tribe  of  Gad  were  sealed  twelve 

6  thousand.     Of  the  tribe  of  Aser  ivere  sealed  twelve  thousand. 
Of  the  tribe  of  Nephthalim  were  sealed  twelve  thousand.  Of  the 

7  tribe  of  Manasses  were  sealed  twelve  thousand.     Of  the  tribe  of 
Simeon  were  sealed  twelve  thousand.     Of  the  tribe  of  Levi  were 
sealed  twelve  thousand.     Of  the  tribe  of  Issachar  were  sealed 

8  twelve  thousand.     Of  the  tribe  of  Zabulon  were  sealed  twelve 
thousand.     Of  the  tribe  of  Joseph  were  sealed  twelve  thousand. 

9  Of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  were  sealed  twelve  thousand.     After 
this  I  beheld,,  and,  lo,  a  great  multitude,  which  no  man  could 
number,  of  all  nations,  and  kindreds,  and  people,  and  tongues 
stood  before  the  throne,3  and  before  the   Lamb,  clothed  with 

10  white  robes,  and  palms  in  their  hands ;  and  cried  with  a  loud 

-'  This  represented  either  symbolically  or  literally  those  of  whom  God  would 
never  lose  sight,  and  to  whom  His  special  providence  and  grace  would  be  extended. 
They  were  to  be  selected  out  of  the  tribes  of  Israel.  The  language  could  hardly 
more  distinctly  imply  that  the  Jewish  nation  was  still  occupying  its  own  land,  a 
land  exposed  to  some  impending  desolation.  The  twelve  tribes  are  named  notwith- 
standing so  many  of  them  had  been  lost,  because  the  destruction  was  to  overtake 
the  whole  land  of  Judaea.  The  first  churches  were  composed  almost  exclusively  of 
Jewish  converts :  Acts  ii.  41,  vi.  7,  xii.  24,  xix.  20.  These  144,000  sealed  ones 
appear  again  in  this  prophecy,  chap.  xiv.  1-5,  and  are  there  recognised  as  "  the 
first  fruits  unto  God  and  the  Lamb." 

2  The  tribes  are  not  named  in  the  order  of  birth,  and  there  are  other  peculiarities 
in  the  list  here  given ;   but  we  find  the  same  precision  which  distinguishes  the 
Apocalypse  elsewhere.     There  is  a  real  and  significant  order  in  the  transpositions 
and  apparent  want  of  order,  in  the  omissions  and  substitutions. 

The  Episode. 

3  This  vision  of  heaven  is  introduced  here  with  fine  effect,  in  the  midst  of  the 
scenes  of  disaster  and  woe  unfolded  by  the  prophecy.    The  expression  after  this, 
or  after  these  things,  ^erd  ravra,  does  not  mean  that  what  John  now  saw,  as  to  its 
fulfilment,  is  here  in  its  chronological  order,  or  that  it  was  to  take  place  in  imme- 
diate succession  to  the  events  just  foretold.     The  throng  John  saw  was  so  great  as 
to  make  the  numbering  impossible  or  impracticable.  The  repetition  or  minuteness  of 
enumeration  is  intended  to  include  all  kinds  of  people,  however  distinguished  by 
social  organization,  type  of  race,  or  language.     The  white  robes  are  emblematic  of 
purity  and  righteousness  ;  the  palms  are  emblems  of  rejoicing  (Lev.  xxiii.  40).     This 
anticipatory  vision  of  the  final  consummation  is  introduced  here,  before  the  opening 
of  the  seventh  seal,  because  it  is  so  well  suited  to  support  the  hearts  of  the  pious 
under  the  coming  trials.     It  is  clearly  a  vision  laid  in  eternity,  after  the  restitution 
of  all  things,  and  of  course  after  the  gospel  has  been  preached  to  all  nations,  and 
God's  elect  have  been  gathered  out  of  the  generations  of   men  from  the  four 
quarters  of  the  globe. 


202  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OP   ST.  JOHN. 

voice,  saying,  Salvation  to  our  God  which  sitteth  upon  the  throne, 

11  and  unto  the  Lamb.     And  all  the  angels  stood  round  about  the 
throne,  and  about  the  elders  and  the  four  beasts,  and  fell  before 

12  the  throne  on  their  faces,  and  worshipped  God,  saying,  Amen : 
Blessing,  and  glory,  and  wisdom,  and  thanksgiving,  and  honour, 
and   power,  and   might,  be   unto  our  God  for  ever  and   ever. 

13  Amen.    And  one  of  the  elders  answered,  saying  unto  me,  What 
are  these  which  are  arrayed  in  white  robes  ?  and  whence  came 

14  they  ?     And  I  said  unto  him,  Sir,  thou  knowest.     And  he  said 
to  me,  These  are  they  which  came  out  of  great  tribulation,  and 
have  washed  their  robes,  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of 

15  the  Lamb.     Therefore  are  they  before  the  throne  of  God,  and 
serve  Him  day  and  night  in  His  temple  :  and  He  that  sitteth  on 

16  the  throne  shall  dwell  among  them.      They  shall  hunger  no 
more,  neither  thirst  anymore;  neither  shall  the  sun  lighten 

17  them,  nor  any  heat.     For  the  Lamb  which  is  in  the  midst  of 
the  throne  shall  feed  them,  and  shall  lead  them  unto  living 
fountains  of  waters :  and  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears1  from 
their  eyes. 

THE  SEVENTH  SEAL.     CHAPS.  VIII.  TO  XXII. 

The  Seven  Angels  prepare   to  sound;    or,  the  great  Event  awaited 

with  solemn  Ceremonies. 
VIIL]  [Ver.  1-6. 

1  And  when  He  had  opened  the  seventh  seal,2  there  was  silence 

2  in  heaven  about  the  space  of  half  an  hour.3    And  I  saw  the  seven 

1  The  Greek  is  TTOLV  ddicpvov,  "  every  tear." 

2  In  this  seal  is  comprised  the  remainder  of  the  prophecy  revealed  to  John.    It 
differs  from  the  six  preceding  in  its  vastly  greater  extent ;  it  is  as  if  a  volume 
consisted  of  seven  parts,  in  which  the  seventh,  the  principal,  is  subdivided  into 
chapters  and  sections.     In  this  seal  we  first  have  seven  trumpets,  which  may  be 
regarded  as  so  many  distinct  chapters,  which,  like  the  seven  seals  or  parts  of  the 
whole,  are  some  of  them  of  less  and  others  of  wider  scope.     Again,  the  last  trumpet, 
represented  as  a  chapter  of  this  finishing  seventh  part,  is  subdivided  into  seven 
vials,  which  may  be  represented  as  so  many  sections  in  the  final  chapter,  and  like 
the  seals  and  trumpets,  or  the  parts  and  chapters,  are  some  of  them  of  more  and 
others  of  less  importance.     Such  is  the  admirable  method  of  this  book.    It  is  not  a 
mere  medley  of  disconnected  nor  a  series  of  repetitious  visions. 

3  The  time  of  the  symbolical  silence,  and  not  a  prophetic  time.    That  it  is  intended 
to  indicate  millennial  rest  and  peace  is  a  mere  fanciful  interpretation  ;  if  the  period 
occupied  in  receiving  the  entire  revelation  was  confined  to  a  single  day,  as  has  been 
supposed,  the  pause  and  silence  were  comparatively  long,  and  their  significance  only 
the  more  impressive. 


REVELATION    VIII.  203 

angels  which  stood  before  God ;  and  to  them  were  given  seven 

3  trumpets.1     And  another  angel  came  and  stood  at  the  altar/ 
having  a  golden  censer;  and  there  was  given  unto  him  much 
incense,  that  he  should  offer  it  with  the  prayers  of  all  saints 

4  upon  the  golden  altar  which  was  before  the  throne.     And  the 
smoke  of  the  incense,  which  came  with  the  prayers  of  the  saints, 

5  ascended  up  before  God  out  of  the  angePs  hand.     And  the 
angel  took  the  censer,  and  filled  it  with  fire  of  the  altar,  and 
cast  It  into  the  earth ;  and  there  were  voices,  and  thunderings, 

6  and   lightnings,  and   an   earthquake.     And   the    seven   angels 
which  had  the  seven  trumpets3  prepared  themselves  to  sound. 

The  First  Four  Trumpets. 

[Ver.  7-12. 

The  first  angel  sounded,  and  there  followed  hail  and  fire, 
mingled  with  blood,4  and  they  were  cast  upon  the  earth  :  and 
the  third  part5  of  trees  was  burnt  up,  and  all  green  grass  was 

1  As  the  movement  of  armies  is  guided  by  the  sound  of  trumpets,  by  the  trum- 
pets here  may  be  understood  that  God  is  about  to  lead  on  His  hosts  to  the  accom- 
plishment of  His  designs.     They  are  committed  to  angels  of  the  highest  rank  or 
order.     The  original,  like  our  English  version,  has  it  "  the  seven  angels  which  stood 
before  God."    That  there  are  different  ranks  in  the  angelic  world,  see  Isa.  vi.  2,  Dan. 
x.  13,  Matt,  xviii.  10,  Col.  i.  16,  etc. 

2  The  representation  supposes  an  altar  in  heaven,  like  that  in  the  earthly  temple 
at  Jerusalem.     The  agency  of  the  angel  is  merely  a  part  of  the  symbolical  action  in 
the  case,  and  is  not  to  be  interpreted  as  meaning  that  angelic  intercession  is 
necessary  to  the  acceptableness  of  prayer. 

3  The  trumpets  were  in  two  classes  or  categories.     The  first  four  compose  one, 
and  seem  to  be  specially  related  to  one  another ;  the  last  three  the  other,  and  are 
distinguished  by  way  of  eminence  as  woe  trumpets. 

The  First  Trumpet.     The  Pagan  Power  of  Rome  appears. 

4  The  imagery  is  of  the  most  terrific  character,  and  here  the  pagan  power  of 
Kome  is  first  brought  upon  the  theatre  of  action.     This  was  necessary  in  order  to 
depict  the  catastrophe  that  yet  awaited  the  Jewish  nation,  inasmuch  as  it  was  by 
the  sword  of  the  Eomans  that  this  was  to  be  accomplished.     Moreover,  the  strict 
method  that  runs  through  this  book  required  this,  because  Kome  began  to  persecute 
before  the  overthrow  of  the  Jewish  nation.     The  martyrdom  of  Paul  and  Nero's 
persecution  preceded  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.     By  the  terrific  imagery,  "hail 
and  fire  mingled  with  blood,"  we  may  understand  the  warfare  of  the  barbarous 
tribes  and  nations,  out  of  which  grew  the  Eoman  commonwealth. 

5  The  expression  the  third  part  elsewhere  in  this  prophecy  will  be  found  to  refer 
to  the  Eoman  nation,  and  its  conquests  in  the  earth ;  see  verses  8-12,  ix.  18, 
xii.  4.     Accordingly  this  part  of  the  prophecy,  together  with  the  three  next  trumpets, 
like  the  first  five  seals,  are  to  be  viewed  as  preliminary  to  what  is  revealed  under 
the  three  woe  trumpets.     Instead    of  mentioning  the  Eoman  power  by  name,  a 
power  which  was  then  at  the  zenith  of  its  greatness,  John  describes  it ;  just  as  in  a 


204  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

8  burnt  up.     And  the  second  angel  sounded,  and  as  it  were  a 
great  mountain1  burning  with  fire  was  cast  into  the  sea:  and  the 

9  third  part  of  the  sea2  became  blood;  and  the  third  part  of  the 
creatures  which  were  in  the  sea,  and  had  life,  died ;  and  the 

10  third  part  of  the  ships  were  destroyed.     And  the  third  angel 
sounded,  and  there  fell  a  great  star3  from  heaven,  burning  as  it 
were  a  lamp,  and  it  fell  upon  the  third  part  of  the  rivers,  and 

11  upon  the  fountains  of  waters ;  and  the  name  of  the  star  is  called 
Wormwood  :4  and  the  third  part  of  the  waters  became  worm- 
wood ;  and  many  men  died  of  the  waters,  because  they  were 

12  made  bitter.  And  the  fourth  angel  sounded,  and  the  third  part 
of  the  sun  was  smitten,  and  the  third  part  of  the  moon,  and  the 

former  part  of  the  prophecy,  when  he  would  have  us  identify  the  Jewish  persecu- 
ting power  as  aimed  at,  he  repeats  with  singular  exactness  the  very  signs  of  its 
destruction,  as  given  by  our  Lord  Himself. 

The  Second  Trumpet.     The  Destruction  of  Nations  for  the  Building  up  of 

the  Empire. 

1  A  great  mountain  is  symbolical  of  a  powerful  kingdom,  as  of  the  Persian,  in 
Zech.  iv.  7  ;  here  of  the  Koman  monarchy,  now  fully  established.  Its  burning  with 
fire  is  the  lust  of  war  and  conquest. 

'*  The  sea  in  this  book,  as  in  Scripture  generally,  is  the  common  symbol  of  the 
world,  as  made  up  of  many  distinct  nations  and  peoples  :  Kev.  xvii.  15.  By  the 
casting  of  the  burning  mountain  into  the  sea,  and  its  becoming  blood,  is  to  be  under- 
stood the  destruction  of  nations  and  empires  in  the  days  of  the  Eoman  kings. 

The  Third  Trumpet.  Julius  Ccesar  the  Founder  of  the  Empire. 

3  The  star,  throughout  the  Apocalypse,  is  the  symbol  of  a  ruler :  i.  16,  vi.  13, 
ix.  1,  xii.  1  and  4.     The  falling  here  (compare  vi.  13)  is  both  the  accession  to 
power  and  the  falling  from  it.    As  the  sea  is  the  image  of  people  in  masses,  rivers 
and  fountains  are  the  images  of  the  resources  of  a  people. 

4  By  the  great  star  burning  like  a  torch,  named  6  "A\f/iv0os,  Apsinthus,  or  Wormwood, 
we  are  then  to  understand  some  distinguished  ruler  or  commander  of  the  Eoman 
people.     What  great  name  in  Eoman  history  can  be  referred  to?    What  other 
than  that  of  the  greatest  man  of  antiquity,  the  first  of  the  Caesars?    It  was 
imperialism  in  the  person  of  the  first  Caesar;  and  well  might  it  be  called  Wormwood, 
for  it  was  the  signal  of  civil  dissensions,  the  most  bitter  personal  animosities  and 
sanguinary  contests,  which  lasted  for  many  years,  in  which  some  of  the  best  blood 
of  the  commonwealth  was  shed.     He  appeared  like  a  blazing  meteor  in  the  heavens, 
his  course  being  singularly  brilliant ;  and  he  disappeared  like  such  a  meteor.    In 
striking  accordance  with  the  symbols  of  this  and  the  succeeding  trumpet,  Plutarch 
in  commenting  on  the  death  of  Cassar  speaks  of  "  a  great  comet,  which  shone  very 
bright  for  seven  nights  after  Caesar's  death,  and  then  disappeared,"  to  which  we 
may  add  the  fading  of  the  sun's  lustre  ;  for  his  orb  looked  pale  all  that  year,  etc. 
Pliny,  in  his  chapter  on  eclipses,  describes  the  singular  defect  of  light  which  followed 
the  murder  of  Caesar ;  when,  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year,  the  orb  of  the  sun 
appeared  pale  and  without  splendour.   Hist.  Nat.,  ii.  30. 


JULIUS   CAESAR. 


REVELATION   VIII.  205 

third  part  of  the  stars  ;  so  as  the  third  part1  of  them  was  dark- 
ened, and  the  day  shone  not  for  a  third  part  of  it,  and  the 
night  likewise. 

The  Fifth  Trumpet,  or  First  Woe  ;  Nero,  and  the  Ravages  and 

Horrors  of  the  Jewish  War. 

[Ver.  13. 

13      And  I  beheld,  and  heard  an  angel2  flying  through  the  midst 
of  heaven,  saying  with  a  loud  voice,  Woe,  woe,  woe,3  to  the 

The  Fourth  Trumpet.     The  Empire  established  under  Augustus. 

1  We  have  in  this  verse  a  continuation  of  those  usurpations  which  subverted  the 
Eoman  republic,  and  the  consequences  with  which  they  were  immediately  attended. 
The  struggles  of  the  patriots  to  save  it  proved  unsuccessful,  until  at  the  battle  of 
Actium  it  was  completely  overthrown  ;  and  shortly  after,  Augustus  Caesar,  without 
opposition,  exercised  the  power  of  an  absolute  sovereign.     The  stars  are  symbols  of 
great  rulers,  in  prophetical  language  ;  the  sun  and  moon  may  be  taken  as  symbolical 
of  the  polity  in  which  they  exercised  their  functions.     See  notes,  chap.  vi.  12-14.    In 
"  the  third  part,"  as  noticed  before,  we  have  allusion  to  the  Roman  dominion  in  its 
extent.     This  "  third  part "   appears  under  each  of  these  four  trumpets,  and  has  a 
similar  significance  in  all.    Perhaps  we  are  to  look  farther  in  this  "  third  part "  for 
an  intimation  that  some  of  the  forms  of  the  ancient  order  of  things  were  observed. 
After  the  accession  of  Augustus  to  autocratic  power  the  senate  of  Eome  continued 
to  assemble  as  before,  and  went  through  the  forms  of  sharing  the  administration  of 
the  government.     Even  the  popular  assemblies  and  elections  were  continued. 

It  was  thus  that  the  colossal  power  was  raised  up  which  had  just  become  firmly 
established  when  Jesus  Christ  appeared  on  earth  ;  which  was  to  fall  with  its  whole 
weight  like  a  millstone,  for  the  destruction  of  the  religion  of  Christ ;  which,  in  its 
action  for  the  destruction  of  the  Jewish  persecuting  power,  and  then  as  a  perse- 
cuting power  itself,  first  in  its  pagan,  and  then  as  reproduced  in  its  papal  form, 
occupies  so  large  a  portion  of  this  prophecy ;  but  which,  instead  of  effecting  this 
destruction,  should  itself,  as  this  prophecy  also  makes  clear,  in  conformity  with 
another  prediction  (Dan.  ii.  34,  35),  be  ground  to  powder  by  the  falling  upon  it  of 
the  stone  cut  out  of  the  mountain  without  hands. 

2  In  the  original  it  is  deroO,  an  eagle  ;  Eec.  &yy{\ov.     The  Sin.  and  Alex.  Codd. 
both  have  eagle  ;  Luther  has  angel ;  the  Wiclif  and  Eheims  versions  have  eagle.   Tyn- 
dale,  Cranmer,  and  the  Geneva  agree  with  the  A.V.     We  are  probably  to  understand 
the  meaning  to  be  an  angel  with  the  wings,  or  flying  with  the  swiftness,  of  an  eagle. 
That  it  is  an  angel  is  evident,  as  it  is  immediately  added,  "  saying  with  a  loud  voice." 

3  The  design  of  this  cry  is  to  awaken  attention  to  the  "  voices  "  or  predictions  of 
the  following  trumpets,  especially  as  distinguished  from  the  preceding,  which  we 
have  seen  were  not  designed  to  foretell  judgments  or  persecutions,  but  were  merely 
descriptive,  and  retrogressive  as  related  to  the  prophecy  itself,  for  the  purpose  of 
identification  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  great  world-power,  which,  after  de- 
stroying the  Jewish  nation,  itself  eventually  became  most  inimical  to  the  cause  of 
Christ.     The  three  remaining  may  be  appropriately  called  woe  trumpets,  because 
under  them  the  catastrophe  which  awaited  the  Jews  is  completed,  and  they  predict 
persecutions  against  Christians  by  the  pagan  empire  of  Eome,  and  the  persecutions 
of  the  false  prophets  or  the  papal  antichrist  ;  and  the  judgments  which  should 
be  inflicted  on  these  persecuting  powers. 


206  THE   LIFE   AND   WEITINQS   OP   ST.  JOHN. 

inhabiters  of  the  earth,  by  reason  of  the  other  voices  of  the 
trumpet  of  the  three  angels,  which  are  yet  to  sound  ! 

IX.]  [Ver.  1-12. 

1  And  the  fifth  angel  sounded,  and  I  saw  a  star1  fall  from  heaven 
unto  the  earth :  and  to  him  was  given  the  key  of  the  bottomless  pit. 

2  And  he  opened2  the  bottomless  pit ;  and  there  arose  a  smoke  out 
of  the  pit,  as  the  smoke  of  a  great  furnace ;  and  the  sun  and  the 

3  air  were  darkened  by  reason  of  the  smoke  of  the  pit.    And  there 
came  out  of  the  smoke  locusts3  upon  the  earth :  and  unto  them 
was  given  power,  as  the  scorpions4  of  the  earth  have  power. 

4  And  it  was  commanded  them  that  they  should  not  hurt  the 

1  Denotes  here,  as  at  viii.  10  et  passim  in  Apocalypse,  a  prince  or  ruler.    Who  is  the 
historical  person  represented  ?    We  are  evidently  to  look  for  this  ruler  among  the 
emperors  of  Eome  ;  and  that  Nero  is  intended  will  be  made  evident  at  every  step 
as  we  advance. 

2  The  opening  of  the  bottomless  pit,  and  the  smoke  that  arose  out  of  it,  darken- 
ing the  sun  and  air,  refer  to  the  atrocities  perpetrated  by  that  infamous  tyrant. 
See  further,  p.  208.     Under   him  commenced  the  fearful  persecution  which  was 
raging  at  the  time  this  book  was  written.     The  smoke  ascends  as  from  the  very  fires 
of  hell,  and  denotes  that  spirit  of  hatred  and  murder  which  disregarded  all  ties  of 
kindred,  let  loose  by  Nero  among  men,  and  which  was  incarnated  in  himself.     If  we 
discover  an  allusion  in  this  smoke  to  that  which  ascended  from  burning  Home,  it 
is  but  an  allusion. 

3  They  are  symbolical,  and,  as  elsewhere  in  Scripture,  denote  devastation.     See 
one  of  the  most  graphic  and  instructive  accounts  of  the   locusts  in  the  East  in 
The    Land    and    Book,   by  Eev.  W.  M.  Thomson,  D.D.,  vol.  ii.,   pp.  102-105. 
See  also  Joel  i.  7-18,  ii.  3-9.     The  locusts  here  point  to  a  particular  development 
of  the  spirit  of  hatred  and  murder,  and  are  connected  with  the  catastrophe  impend- 
ing,— the  destruction  of  Jerusalem. 

4  But  as  if  the  image  of  the  locusts  did  not  sufficiently  mark  or  express  the  idea 
of  malice,  that  of  scorpions  is  added  to  it.     The  Syrian  locust  has  no  sting.     This 
symbolical  locust  is  represented  as  armed  with  the  sting  of  the  scorpion.     Of  this 
dangerous  reptile  we  find  in  Dr.  Thomson's  work  an  account,  also  derived  from 
his  personal  observation.     "  I  have  tried  the  experiment,"  he  says,  "  of  surrounding 
one  with  a  ring  of  fire,  and  when  it  despaired  of  escape  it  repeatedly  struck  its  own 
head  fiercely,  and  soon  died ;  either  from  the  poison  its  Satanic  rage,  or  from  the 
heat,  I  could  not  be  certain  which,  perhaps  from  all  combined  "     (Land  and  Book, 
vol.  i.,  pp.  378-380). 

What  now  in  this  prophecy  are  we  to  understand  by  these  locusts  and  their 
scorpion  power  ?  As  the  smoke  that  came  out  of  the  pit  (TOV  (pptaros  TTJS  afivacrov, 
the  pit  of  the  abyss)  represents  that  spirit  of  murderous  and  hellish  hate  which 
characterized  the  reign  of  Nero,  or  of  the  empire  under  the  other  emperors  scarcely 
better  than  he,  the  locusts  that  came  out  of  the  smoke  admit  of  a  striking  appli- 
cation to  the  Eoman  governors,  generals,  and  armies,  which,  under  Nero,  were  sent 
to  afflict  Palestine.  Prophets,  when  they  use  symbolical  language  to  denote 
events,  commonly  use  that  which  has  a  local  or  geographical  reference.  Elliott's 
Horse  Apoc.,  i.  394-406.  In  the  atrocities  of  Gessius  Floras  and  the  armies  under 
Cestius  and  Vespasian  we  have  the  locusts.  Jos.,  Antiq.,  xviii.  1  (6) ;  xx.  11, 


EEVELATION   IS.  207 

grass  of  the  earth,  neither  any  green  thing,  neither  any  tree ; 
but  only  those  men  which  have  not  the  seal  of  God  in  their  fore- 

5  heads.     And  to  them  it  was  given  that  they  should  not  kill 
them,  but  that  they  should  be  tormented  five  months : l  and 
their  torment2  was  as   the   torment   of   a  scorpion,  when  he 

6  striketh  a  man.     And  in  those  days  shall  men  seek  death,3  and 
shall  not  find  it ;  and  shall  desire  to  die,  and  death  shall  flee 

7  from  them.     And  the  shapes  of  the  locusts  were  like  unto  horses 
prepared  unto  battle ;  and  on  their  heads  were  as  it  were  crowns 

8  like  gold,  and  their  faces  were  as  the  faces  of  men.     And  they 
had  hair  as  the  hair4  of  women,  and  their  teeth  were  as  the  teeth 

(1)  ;  Wars,  ii.  14 ;  Tacitus,  Hist.,  v.  10.  The  scorpion  power  admits  of  an 
equally  striking  application  to  the  banditti  that  infested  Judaea  and  Jerusalem. 
When  the  robbers,  who  had  taken  advantage  of  the  convulsed  state  of  the  country, 
and  had  banded  together  in  the  mountains  of  Judaea  for  rapine  and  murder,  beheld 
the  advance  of  the  Koman  army  under  Vespasian,  they  betook  themselves  to  Jeru- 
salem, and,  being  joined  by  the  Zealots  and  lawless  mob,  ruled  over  it.  Famine 
preyed  upon  all.  Josephus  relates  the  affecting  story  of  a  Jewish  lady  who  slew  her 
own  child,  and  served  his  body  up  for  food.  Wars,  vi.  3  (4)  ;  v.  10  (3). 

1  Prof.  Stuart  says,  the  usual  time  of  locusts  is  from  May  to  September,  inclu- 
sive,— five  months.     Hengstenberg  says,  these  five  months  have  no  place  in  natural 
history.     But  however  this  question  may  be  settled,  the  five  months  correspond 
exactly  with  the  period  during  which  Titus  besieged  Jerusalem,  and  the  Zealots  and 
robbers  held  undisputed  sway  within  the  walls.    It  was  about  the  first  of  March 
(Jos.,  Wars,  v.  3  (1)  seq.)  when  Titus  laid  siege  to  Jerusalem ;  just  five  months 
after,  viz.  the  10th  of  August  (Wars,  vi.  8  (4) ),  the  city  was  destroyed,  and  the  scorpion 
torment  ceased.     It  is  an  insuperable  difficulty  in  the  way  of  interpreting  these 
locusts  as  representing  the  Saracens  (which  is  done  by  those  who  understand  Mo- 
hammed as  foretold  by  "  the  great  star"),  that  it  is  impossible  to  explain  the  five 
months,  either  literally  or  figuratively ;  i.e.,  either  as  five  natural  months  or  as  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years.    The  Saracenic  caliphs  reigned  at  Bagdad  and  Damascus 
three  hundred  years. 

2  Dr.  Goldsmith  states  that  the  naturalist,  Maupertuis,  confined  a  hundred  of  these 
dreadful  insects  together,  when  they  began  to  exert  all  their  rage  for  mutual  de- 
struction.   In  a  few  days  there  remained  but  fourteen,   which  had  killed  and 
devoured  all  the  rest.  The  female  scorpion,  it  is  said,  will  even  devour  its  own  young. 
What  could  more  vividly  represent  the  mad  and  infatuated  fury  which  tormented 
and  destroyed  unhappy  Jerusalem  ?    Jos.,  Pref.  to  Wars,  4. 

3  There  could  be  no  stronger  expression  of  intense  misery.   Josephus  (Wars,  v.  12 
(3) )  represents  the  people  as  beseeching  the  robbers  to  despatch  them  with  their 
swords.  Influenced  by  the  malice  of  delighting  to  see  their  miseries  protracted,  they 
refused  to  heed  the  request.     It  was  not  given  them  to  kill,  but  to  torment :  ver.  5. 

4  In  verses  7-10,  from  the  minute  description  of  these  locusts,  it  appears  that  the 
natural  locust  was  the  mere  et'SwXoj'  for  the  symbolic  one.    Niebuhr,  the  oriental 
traveller,  was  told  by  an  Arab  from  the  desert,  and  another  at  Bagdad,  that  the 
head  of  the  locust  might  be  compared  to  that  of  the  horse ;  its  breast  to  that  of 
the  lion  ;  its  feet  to  those  of  the  camel ;  its  body  to  that  of  the  serpent ;  its  tail  to  that 
of  the  scorpion ;  its  horns  (antenna)  to  the  locks  of  hair  of  a  woman.    They  are 
called  by  the  Italians  cavallette,  little  horses.    But  that  part  of  the  description  of  the 


208  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

9  of  lions.     And  they  had  breastplates,  as  it  were  breastplates  of 
iron  ;  and  the  sound  of  their  wings  was  as  the  sound  of  chariots 

10  of  many  horses  running  to  battle.     And  they  had  tails  like  unto 
scorpions,  and  there  were  stings  in  their  tails  :  and  their  power 

11  was  to  hurt  men  five  months.     And  they  had  a  king  over  them, 
ivliicli  is  the  angel1  of  the  bottomless  pit,  whose  name  in  the 
Hebrew  tongue  is  Abaddon,  but  in  the  Greek  tongue  hath  his 

12  name  Apollyon.     One  woe  is  past ;  and,  behold,  there  come  two 
woes  more  hereafter. 

The  Sixth  Trumpet,  or  Second  Woe.    Continued  Invasion;  the  Siege 
and  Destruction  of  Jerusalem  under  Titus. 

[Ver.  13-21. 

13  And  the  sixth  angel  sounded,  and  I  heard  a  voice  from  the 
14-  four  horns  of  the  golden  altar  which  is  before  God,  saying  to 

the  sixth  angel  which  had  the  trumpet,  Loose  the  four  angels 

15  which  are  bound  in  the  great  river  Euphrates.2     And  the  four 

angels  were  loosed,  which  were  prepared  for  an  hour,3  and  a 

locusts  which  represents  them  as  having  hair  like  the  hair  of  women  has  occa- 
sioned no  small  perplexity  to  critics,  as  exhibiting  a  disregard  of  natural  verisimili- 
tude. Josephus  (Wars,  iv.  9  (10) )  describes  the  Zealots  as  decking  their  hair  after 
the  manner  ol  women,  and  affecting  an  effeminate  gait  that  they  might  more 
successfully  accomplish  their  fiendish  purposes. 

1  In  the  Greek  it  is  angel  of  the  abyss.    There  can  be  no  doubt,  Hengstenberg 
thinks,  as  to  the  identity  of  the  star  (ver.  1),  and  this  king,  the  angel  of  the  abyss. 
His  name    in  Hebrew  is  Abaddon,  "P^Il^  in  Greek  Apollyon,  'ATTO\\IJUV.    Nero, 
whose  character  fills  us  with  greater  disgust  and  horror  than  that  of  any  other  per- 
son famous  in  history,  is  undoubtedly  intended.     He  passed  his  days  in  fiddling  and 
murdering  ;  he  banished  men  who  would  not  praise  his  skill  in  music  ;  and  killed 
women  who  would  not  receive  his  addresses,  or  kicked  them  to  death  after  they 
married  him.       His  cruelties  as  a  persecutor  of    Christians  have  never  been 
exceeded. 

2  The  Euphrates  was  the  region  which,  from  time  immemorial,  had  sent  its  deso- 
lating hordes   down  upon  Palestine.     See  Isa.  vii.  20.     Whilst  it  was  the  Eoman 
power  which  was  to  lay  waste  Judaea,  and  which  had  begun  its  ravages  when  this 
book  was  written,  it  was  nevertheless  to  be  expected,  and  was  a  matter  of  actual 
occurrence,  as  we  are  distinctly  informed  by  Josephus,  that  the  Komans  "  would 
draw  their  supplies  of  troops  from  the  neighbouring  oriental  countries  under  their 
sway  "  (Wars,  iii.  1  (3) ;  4  (2) ).     In  the  four  angels  we  may  perhaps  find  a  refer- 
ence to  the  four  generals,  Vespasian,  Titus,  Agrippa,  and  Trajan,  who  commanded 
the  invading  armies.    In  that  they  are  called  angels,  we  have  the  truth,  that  the 
hosts  they  lead  do  but  fulfil  a  Divine  commission. 

J  The  definite  period  at  which  the  angels  were  to  be  loosed  is  meant.  They  had 
been  prepared  in  the  determinate  counsel  and  foreknowledge  of  God  for  this  exact 
time  or  epoch  in  history.  Not  merely  the  year  and  month,  but  the  very  day  and 
hour,  were  determined. 


REVELATION   IX.  209 

day,  and  a  month,  and  a  year,  for  to  slay  the  third1  part  of 

16  men.     And  the  number2  of  the  army  of  the  horsemen  were  two 
hundred  thousand  thousand :  and  I  heard  the  number  of  them. 

17  And  thus  I  saw  the  horses  in  the  vision,3  and  them  that  sat  on 
them,  having  breastplates  of  fire,  and  of  jacinth,  and  brimstone: 
and  the  heads  of  the  horses  were  as  the  heads  of  lions ;  and  out 

18  of  their  mouths  issued  fire  and  smoke  and   brimstone.     By 
these  three  was  the  third 4  part  of  men  killed,  by  the  fire,  and 
by  the  smoke,  and  by  the  brimstone,  which  issued  out  of  their 

19  mouths.     For  their  power  is  in  their  mouth,  and  in  their  tails  : 5 
for  their  tails  were  like  unto  serpents,  and  had  heads,  and  with 

20  them  they  do  hurt.     And  the  rest  of  the  men  which  were  not 
killed  by  these  plagues  yet  repented  not  of  the  works  of  their 
hands,  that  they  should  not  worship  devils,6  and  idols  of  gold, 

1  The  number  of  the  Jewish  people  who  perished  during  the  invasion  of  Judasa 
and  the  siege  of  Jerusalem,  by  the  sword,  famine,  and  pestilence,  is  summed  up  by 
Archbishop  Usher,  from  Lipsius,  out  of  Josephus,  and  amounts  to  1,337,490.  Taking 
this  as  one  third,  the  entire  nation    would  number  at  the  time  not  far  from 
4,000,000.    It  was  never  estimated  at  the  most  prosperous  period  to  number  more 
than  5,000,000. 

2  A  mighty  force,  sufficient  to  overrun  and  devastate  Palestine,  is  represented 
by  this  innumerable  host  in  the  vision.     The  army  of  invasion  numbered  less  than 
100,000  men.  Titus  brought  from  Alexandria  ths  famous  fifth  and  tenth  legions,  and 
united  them  with  the  fifteenth,  already  with  his  father  Vespasian.    Troops  of  horse- 
men came  from  Syria.     Auxiliaries  came  from  the  kings  Antiochus,  Agrippa,  and 
Sohemus.     The  king  of  Arabia  sent  horsemen,  and  footmen  who  were  archers.     The 
whole  army,  says  Josephus,  "amounted  to  60,000,  besides  the  slaves,  who,  as  they 
followed  in  vast  numbers,  so  because  they  had  been  trained  up  in  war  with  the  rest, 
ought  not  to  be  distinguished  from  the  fighting  men."    (Wars,  iii.  4  (2).) 

3  The  orientals  delighted  in  imagery  like  this,  of  horses  breathing  out  fire  and 
smoke.      We  are  not  to  forget  that  we  have  here  merely  the  symbols  of  a  vision. 
We  have  a  kind  of  nota  bene,  says  Hengstenberg,  in  the  expression  "  in  the  vision." 
It  is  a  description  of  the  Eoman  legions  and  of  those  wild  bands  of  oriental  cavalry 
which  constituted  the  main  body  of  the  invading  force. 

4  The  number  killed  is  referred  to,  as  in  ver.  15.     For  the  third  part  of  a  nation 
composed  of   several  millions  to  perish  in  war  is  a  ratio  almost  without  parallel  in 
history.     (Jos.  Wars,  vi.  9  (4).) 

5  Their  tails  resembled  serpents  with  the  head  at  the  extremity.     As  in  the 
scorpions  we  found  the  symbol  of  the  terrible  factions  among  the  Jews,  that  did 
more  to  precipitate  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  than  the  Romans,  so  perhaps  we 
are  to  find  a  corresponding  symbol  here  in  these  serpent  tails. 

6  John  has  already,  in  this  book,  once  referred  to  the  blasphemy  of  those  who 
say  they  are  Jews  and  are  not,  but  are  of  the  synagogue  of  Satan :  chaps,  ii.  9  and 
iii.  9.    What  could  the  worship  of  the  Zealots  of  Jerusalem,  the  Sicarii  of  Galilee, 
and  the  Idumeans,  who  were  half  heathen,  have  been  but  the  worshipping  of  devils  ? 
Even  if  there  were  no  ground  for  the  charge  of  actual  idolatry  against  the  Jews, 
the  language  we  are  considering,  like  similar  language  elsewhere,  might  naturally 
receive  a  figurative  interpretation.    1  Sam.  xv.  23. 

P 


210  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OP    ST.  JOHN. 

and  silver,  and  brass,  and  stone,  and  of  wood :  which  neither 
21  can  see,  nor  hear,  nor  walk:  neither  repented1  they  of  their 

murders,  nor  of  their  sorceries,   nor  of  their  fornication,  nor 

of  their  thefts. 
X._,  [Yer.  1-11. 

1  And  I  saw  another  mighty  angel2  come  down  from  heaven, 
clothed   with  a  cloud :    and  a    rainbow   was  upon  his   head, 
and  his  face  was  as  it  were  the  sun,  and  his  feet  as  pillars 

2  of  fire :  and   he    had  in  his  hand    a    little   book3  open :    and 
he  set  his  right  foot  upon  the  sea,  and  Ms  left  foot  on  the 

3  earth,  and  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  as  when  a  lion  roareth  :  and 

4  when  he  had  cried,  seven  thunders4  uttered  their  voices.     And 
when  the  seven  thunders  had  uttered  their  voices,  I  was  about 
to  write  :  and  I  heard  a  voice  from  heaven  saying  unto  me,  Seal 
up  those  things  which  the  seven  thunders  uttered,  and  write 

5  them  not.     And  the  angel  which  I  saw  stand  upon  the  sea  and 

6  upon  the  earth  lifted  up  his  hand  to  heaven,  and  sware  by 
Him    that   liveth    for   ever    and   ever,   who   created   heaven, 
and  the  things  that  therein  are,  and  the  earth,  and  the  things 
that  therein  are,  and  the  sea,  and  the  things  which  are  there- 

7  in,  that  there  should  be  time5  no  longer:    but    in  the  days 
of  the  voice  of  the  seventh  angel,  when  he  shall  begin  to  sound, 
the  mystery  of  God  should  be  finished,  as  He  hath  declared  to 

1  Josephus,  in  the  closing  chapters  of  the  Jewish  War,  relates  the  continued  hostility 
of  the  Sicarii,  and  their  assembling  to  the  number  of  nearly  a  thousand  in  the 
fortress  Masada,  where,  after  making  a  desperate  resistance,  when  they  were  con- 
vinced the  Komans  would  soon  effect  an  entrance,  rather  than  fall  into  their  hands, 
they  agreed  to  destroy  their  wives  and  children,  and  then  one  another,  the  last  sur- 
vivor to  kill  himself.     The  plan  was  executed,  and  but  two  women  and  five  children, 
who  had  concealed  themselves,  escaped. 

2  Everything  that  is  said  of  this  angel  points  to  Christ,  as  well  as  what  is  said 
of  Him  in  the  verses  following.     The  description  is  quite  parallel  with  that  of  "  one 
like  unto  the  Son  of  man,"  in  chap.  i.  13-15.     Bloomfield  quotes  Sir  Win.  Jones, 
as  having  pronounced  this  description  "  superior  to  anything  ever  produced  by  an 
uninspired  writer." 

2  What  was  symbolised  by  this  book  will  appear  when  we  come  to  verses  8-11. 

4  They  relate  to  future  things,  not  revealed  in  these  trumpets  and  vials.     All  the 
seals  of  the  book  may  be  broken,  and  much  remain  not  unfolded.    Prophecy  is  not 
designed  to  give  us  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  future. 

5  This  does  not  refer  to  the  end  of  time.   It  means  that  no  time  was  to  intervene, 
i.  e.,  that  there  was  to  be  no  longer  delay,  OTI  xpovos  oike'ri  &TTCU,  but  that  the  catastrophe 
should  come  immediately  upon  the  sounding  of  the  seventh  trumpet.   There  had 
seemed  to  be  delay  ;  seal  after  seal  had  been  broken,  trumpet  after  trumpet  blown, 
and   not  even  the  overthrow  of  the  first  persecuting  power   had  been  reached. 
The  oath  meets  the  fear,  or  the  temptation  to  conclude,  that  it  will  always  be  so. 


REVELATION   X.  211 

8  His  servants  the  prophets.     And  the  voice  which  I  heard  from 
heaven  spake  unto  me  again,  and  said,  Go  and  take  the  little 
book  which  is  open  in  the  hand  of  the  angel  which  standeth 

9  upon  the  sea  and  upon  the  earth.     And  I  went  unto  the  angel, 
and  said  unto  him,  Give  me  the  little  book.1     And  he  said  unto 
me,  Take  it,  and  eat  it  up  ;  and  it  shall  make  thy  belly  bitter, 

10  but  it  shall  be  in  thy  mouth  sweet  as  honey.     And  I  took  the 
little  book  out  of  the  angel's  hand,  and  ate  it  up ;  and  it  was  in 
my  mouth  sweet  as  honey  :  and  as  soon  as  I  had  eaten  it,  my 

11  belly  was  bitter.     And  he  said  unto  me,  Thou  must  prophesy 
again  before2  many  peoples,  and  nations,  and  tongues,  and  kings. 

XL]  [Ver.  1-14. 

1  And  there   was  given   me  a   reed  like   unto   a   rod : 3  and 
the  angel  stood,  saying,  Rise,  and  measure  the  temple  of  God, 

2  and  the  altar,  and  them  that  worship  therein.     But  the  court 
which  is  without  the  temple  leave  out,  and  measure  it  not :  for 
it  is  given  unto  the  Gentiles  :  and  the  holy  city  shall  they  tread 

1  The  prophet  Ezekiel  was  directed  to  eat  the  roll,  or  scroll,  which  he  found  ;  and 
it  was  in  his  mouth  as  honey  for  sweetness :  Ezek.  iii.  1-3.  To  devour  a  book 
and  digest  its  matter  is  figurative  language,  still  in  common  use.  The  meaning 
here  is  that  John  was  to  let  the  contents  of  this  book  sink  deep  into  his  mind.  It 
would  be  the  occasion  partly  of  joy  and  partly  of  sorrow.  It  represents  a  portion 
distinct  and  separate  of  the  seven-sealed  book.  What  remained  of  the  seventh  seal 
under  the  seventh  trumpet  was  so  important,  it  was  to  have  reference  to  so  many 
different  and  widely  distant  events,  that  that  residue  is  now  presented  under  the 
symbol  of  a  distinct  volume.  It  exactly  synchronizes  with  the  seventh  trumpet. 

-  'ETTI  Xao?s,  /c.r.X.  The  preposition  here  with  the  dative  plural  of  persons,  as  in 
the  A.V.,  means  among,  or  in  the  presence  of :  Acts  xxviii.  14 ;  2  Cor.  vii.  7  ;  Eurip., 
Iph.  in  Aul.,  660  ;  Xen.,  Mem.,  ii.  1  (27).  We  are  not  therefore,  with  many  critics, 
to  substitute  respecting  for  the  preposition  before.  The  meaning  is  that  John  was 
not  to  perish  in  the  persecution  then  raging,  nor  end  his  ministry  in  imprisonment 
at  Patmos,  but  was  to  appear  as  a  witness  for  Christ  before  many  peoples,  nations, 
and  kings.  So  that  this  is  another  of  the  proofs  found  in  the  Apocalypse  itself,  that 
his  imprisonment  could  not  have  taken  place  under  Domitian,  for  he  would  then  be 
too  old  for  the  extensive  work  here  marked  out. 

3  The  measuring  rod  and  the  measuring  are  here  symbolical  of  destruction.  In 
previous  visitations  or  threatenings  of  evil  on  the  holy  city,  we  find  analogous 
figures  employed :  2  Kings  xxi.  12,  13 ;  Amos  vii.  8,  9 ;  comp.  Isa.  xxxiv.  11 ; 
Lam.  ii.  8.  The  measuring  was  to  be  applied  to  the  temple,  the  altar,  and  them 
that  worship  therein  ;  i.e.,  these  holy  places  were  to  be  overthrown,  and  the  worship 
connected  with  them  brought  to  an  end.  The  direction  not  to  measure  the  court 
denotes  that  all  that  lay  outside  of  the  temple  proper,  or  fane  itself,  was  not  in  the 
same  sense  holy.  The  consecrated  temple  and  altar  were  not  to  be  permitted  to  fall 
into  the  hands  of  the  uncircumcised.  God  would  save  these  from  such  dishonour 
by  their  destruction.  Hence  the  propriety  of  employing  the  implements  of  con- 
struction here  as  symbols  ;  the  destruction  was  in  order  to  save  from  desecration 
consecrated  things.  The  Eoman  general  found  it  impossible,  although  he  made 
the  most  strenuous  efforts,  to  save  the  temple.  (Jos.,  Wars,  vi.  4  (6.  7).) 


THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

3  under  foot  forty  and  two  months.1     And  I  will    give  power 
unto  My  two  witnesses,2  and  they  shall  prophesy  a  thousand 

4  two  hundred  and  threescore  days,  clothed  in  sackcloth.     These 
are  the  two  olive  trees,  and  the  two  candlesticks3  standing 

5  before  the  God  of  the  earth.     And  if  any  man  will  hurt  them, 
fire  proceedeth  out  of  their  mouth,  and  devoureth  their  enemies : 
and  if  any  man  will  hurt  them,  he  must  in  this  manner  be 

6  killed.     These  have  power  to  shut  heaven,  that  it  rain  not  in 
the  days  of  their  prophecy :  and  have  power4  over  waters  to 
turn  them  to  blood,  and  to  smite  the  earth  with  all  plagues,  as 

7  often  as  they  will.     And  when  they  shall  have  finished  their 
testimony,  the  beast  that  ascendeth  out  of  the  bottomless  pit 
shall  make  war  against  them,  and  shall  overcome  them,  and 

8  kill5  them.     And  their  dead  bodies  shall  lie  in  the  street  of  the 
great  city,6  which  spiritually  is  called  Sodom  and  Egypt,  where 

1  There  is  no  difficulty  in  discovering  proximately  a  literal  fulfilment  as  to  the 
time  here  given.      Vespasian  received  his  commission  from  Nero,   i.e.,   the  war 
was  declared  (see  Lard.,  Jewish  Test.,  viii.),  the  first  part  of  Feb.,  A.D.  67  ;  three 
years  and  six  months  after  =  forty-two  months,  viz.  August  10th,  A.D.  70,  Jerusalem 
was  destroyed.     Here  we  have  the  equivalent  period  of  the  next  verse,  1260  days. 
The  language  of  the  prophecy  here,  "  tread  under  foot,"  in  a  striking  manner  adopts 
the  very  expression  of  our  Lord,  Luke  xxi.  24.    Comp.  Luke  xix.  44  ;  Joseph.,  Wars, 
vii.  1  (1). 

2  Faithful  Christians  who  remained  in  Jerusalem  during  the  siege,  as  witnesses 
for  Christ.    If  we  had  a  Christian  history  extant,  as  we  have  a  pagan  one  by 
Tacitus,  and  a  Jewish  by  Josephus,  giving  an  account  of  what  occurred  within  the 
walls  of  that  devoted  city  during  that  awful  period  of  its  history,  then  we  might  trace 
out  more  distinctly  the  fulfilment  of  the  prophesying  of  the  witnesses.     During  the 
three  and  one  half  years  the  Eomans   were  to  tread  down  the  holy  land  and  city, 
they  were  to  prophesy.    Sackcloth  intimates  the  mournful  character  of  their  mission. 

3  An  allusion  to  Zech.  iv.     The  olive  trees  keep  the  lamps  constantly'  supplied 
with  oil.     These  Christian  witnesses  give  a  steady  and  unfailing  light. 

4  It  would  be  impossible  for  language  to  make  it  more  plain  that  the  two  wit- 
nesses were  to  possess  the  power  of  working  miracles,  than  in  verses  5  and  6. 
Hence  it  follows,  this  prophecy  must  have  been  fulfilled  before  the  expiration  of 
the  apostolic  age,  since  miracles  ceased  with  that  age. 

5  In  chap.  ix.  11  we  have  the  angel  of  the  bottomless  pit,  or  abyss,  Abaddon,  or 
Apollyon,  the  king  of  the  scorpion-tailed  locusts,  which  is  interpreted  to  mean  the 
Koman  imperial  magistracy  as  embodied  in  the  monster  Nero.     In  chap.  xiii.  1  we 
have  a  beast  rising  up  out  of  the  sea,  representing,  as  we  shall  see,  the  same  im- 
perial magistracy.     Here  we  have  the  place  in  the  one  and  the  name  in  the  other, 
brought  together,  the  beast  of  the  bottomless  pit  or  abyss  representing  the  same 
magistracy  and  the  same  person,  Nero.     The  meaning  therefore  is,  the  witnesses 
were  to  faU  victims  of  the  war  by  the  hands  of  the  Komans.    The  Komans  would 
make  no  distinction  between  them  and  the  seditious  Jews. 

6  It  is  impossible  to  doubt  that  Jerusalem  is  the  city  intended.      The  word 
translated  spiritually  might  have  been  rendered  allegorically.  (See  Kobinson's  Lex.) 


REVELATION   X.  213 

9  also  our  Lord  was  crucified.     And  they  of  the  people1  and 
kindreds  and  tongues  and  nations  shall  see  their  dead  bodies 
three  days  and  a  half,2  and  shall  not  suffer  their  dqad  bodies  to 

10  be  put  in  graves.     And  they  that  dwell  upon  the  earth  shall 
rejoice  over  them,  and  make  merry,  and  shall  send  gifts  one  to 
another;   because  these   two   prophets  tormented   them   that 

i  1  dwelt  on  the  earth.     And  after  three  days  and  a  half  the  spirit 
of  life  from  God  entered  into  them,  and  they  stood  upon  their 

12  feet ;  and  great  fear  fell  upon  them  which  saw  them.     And 
they  heard  a  great  voice  from  heaven  saying  unto  them,  Come 
up  hither.     And  they  ascended3  up  to  heaven  in  a  cloud ;  and 

13  their  enemies  beheld  them.     And  the  same  hour  was  there  a 
great  earthquake,  and  the  tenth  part  of  the  city  fell,  and  in  the 
earthquake  were  slain  of  men  seven  thousand  :  and  the  remnant 

14  were  affrighted,  and  gave  glory  to  the  God  of  heaven.     The 
second  woe   is   past;4    and,    behold,    the   third   woe   cometh 
quickly. 

1  Foreign  armies  assembled  under  .the  four  angels  at  the  sound  of  the  sixth 
trumpet. 

2  The  period  during  which  the  bodies  of  the  witnesses  lay  unburied  in  the  streets 
of  Jerusalem. 

3  As  in  the  case  of  the  miracles  the  witnesses  performed,  so  there  is  no  historical 
record  of  their  resurrection  and  ascension.     The  two  prophets  were  the   only 
Christians  in  Jerusalem.    As  both  were  killed  there  was  no  one  to  make  a  record  in 
the  case  ;  and  we  have  therefore  before  us  an  example  of  a  prophecy  which  contains, 
at  the  same  time,  the  only  history  or  notice  of  the  events  by  which  it  was  fulfilled. 
May  not  these  witnesses  have  been  two  of  those  apostles,  who  seem  to  have  been  so 
strangely  lost  to  history,  of  some  of  whom  no  authentic  traces  can  be  discovered, 
subsequent  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  ?     May  not  James  the  Just,  commonly 
styled  the  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  have  been  one  of  them  ?    According  to  Hegesippus, 
a  Jewish  Christian  historian,  who  wrote  about  fifty  years  after  the  death  of  the 
apostle  John,  his  monument  was  still  pointed  out  near  the  ruins  of  the  temple. 
Hegesippus  says,  he  was  killed  in  the  year  69 ;  but  it  is  easy  to  see  how  he  might 
have  erred  in  this  date  a  single  year.     He  represents  the  apostle  James  as  bearing 
powerful  testimony  to  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus,  and  pointing  to  His  second  coming 
in  the  clouds  of  heaven,  up  to  the  very  moment  of  his  death,  and  dying  with  the 
prayer  of  the  crucified  Saviour  on  his  lips,  "  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know 
not  what  they  do."     See  Fragments  of  Memorials,  by  Hegesippus,  as  collected  out 
of  Eusebius,  in  Kouth's  Eeliquice  Sacrce,  i.  205-219. 

4  The  city  and  commonwealth  of  the  Jews  are  no  more.    It  is  not  necessary  to 
suppose  that  just  7000  would  be  killed ;  the  number  might  be  much  larger,  and  as 
great  as  if  a  tenth  part  of  all  that  were  represented  by  the  city  should  be  swept 
away.     See  Barnes's  Notes,  in  loco.    If  the  city  represented  4,500,000  of  Jews,  then, 
according  to  this  reckoning,  there  perished  of  them  during  the  invasion  and  in  the 
final  onset  with  the  Komans  450,000.     "  The  remnant,"  this   refers  to  men  like 
Josephus,  on  whose  minds  a  deep  impression  was  made  that  the  hand  of  God  was 
in  their  calamities.     In  some  instances,  the  effect  of  these  terrible  judgments  anrl 


214  THE    LIFE   AND    WRITINGS   OF    ST.  JOHN. 

5.    OVERTHEOW  OF  THE   PAGAN  PERSECUTING  POWER.       THE  SEVENTH 

ANGEL  BEGINS  TO  SOUND.     CHAP.  XI.  15  TO  XIII.  10. 

Compendium  or  Summary  of  the  Little  BooJc. 
XI.]  [Yer.  15-19. 

15  And  the  seventh1  angel  sounded ;  and  there  were  great  voices 
in  heaven,  saying,  The  kingdoms2  of  this  world  are  become  the 
kingdoms  of  our  Lord,  and  of  His  Christ ;  and  He  shall  reign 

16  for  ever  and  ever.     And  the  four  and  twenty  elders,8  which  sat 
before  God  on  their  seats,  fell  upon  their  faces,  and  worshipped 

17  God,  saying,  We  give  Thee  thanks,  0  Lord  God  Almighty,  which 
art,  and  wast,  and  art  to  come ;  because   Thou  hast  taken  to 

18  Thee  Thy  great  power,  and  hast  reigned.     And  the  nations 
were  angry,  and  Thy  wrath  is  come,  and  the  time  of  the  dead, 
that  they  should  be  judged,4  and  that  Thou  shouldest   give 
reward  unto  Thy  servants  the  prophets,  and  to  the  saints,  and 
them  that  fear  Thy  name,  small5 and  great;  and  shouldest  destroy 

19  them  which  destroy  the  earth.     And  the  temple6  of  God  was 

of  the  preaching  of  the  witnesses  may  have  been  to  open  the  eyes  of  men  and  lead 
them  to  repentance.  Here  endeth  the  second  woe,  THE  FOURTH  PART  in  the  division 
of  this  book  and  the  sixth  trumpet. 

1  As  the  seventh  seal  contains  more  than  all  the  other  seals,  i.e.,  refers  to  a 
greater  number  of  and  more  widely  distant  events ;  so  also  the  seventh  trumpet, 
which  is  one  of  the  divisions  of  the  seventh  seal,  contains  more  than  all  the  other 
trumpets.     We  now  enter  on  that  portion  of  the  seventh  part  of  the  concluding 
seal,  which  relates  to  pagan  persecutions,  and  their  end.    It  exactly  synchronizes 
with  the  little,  or  smaller  book.    In  what  remains  of  chap.  xi.  we  have  a  sort  of 
compendium,  or  condensed  summary  of  the  smaller  book,  the  particulars  of  which 
are  dilated  and  enlarged  upon  in  the  remainder  of  the  Apocalypse. 

2  This  future  dominion  of  Christ  is  the  grand  consummation  to  which  all  prophecy 
looks.    It  has  been  the  consolation  of  the  Church  in  ages  past ;  it  animates  and 
consoles  it  now.   Ps.  ii. ;  Isa.  ix.  6,  7  ;  Dan.  ii.  34,  35,  44 ;  Obad.  21 ;  Zech.  xiv.  9,  etc. 
First  will  come  the  latter  day  glory,  the  blessed  millennium.     And  after  the  final  apo- 
stasy and  day  of  judgment  Christ  will  enter  upon  His  everlasting  kingdom  in  heaven. 

3  In  respect  to  the  elders  on  their  thrones,  and  their  worship,  see  chap,  iv,  4,  10. 
In  the  words  ascribed  to  these  elders,  the  best  authorities,  such  as  the  Sin.  and 
Alex.  Codd.,  omit  art  to  come.     The  discourse  here  is  not  of  a  coming  Lord,  but  of 
One  who  has  come. 

4  In  this  verse  we  have  in  brief  what  is  more  fully  presented  in  chaps,  xx.  7  to 
xxii.  21.     Comp.  Matt.  xxv.  31-40. 

5  This  refers  not  merely  to  those  who  die  in  infancy,  but  to  those  who  are  so  lowly 
in  their  own  estimation,  they  scarcely  venture  to  appropriate  any  share  in  the  reward. 
The  timid  trembling  ones,  who  have  truly  feared  God's  name,  as  well  as  those  who 
have  been  strong  in  the  assurance  of  hope,  will  hear  the  welcome,  "  Come,  ye  blessed." 

6  This  chapter  opened  with  the  measuring  of  the  temple  and  altar  at  Jerusalem 
for  destruction.     That  destruction  having  been  accomplished,  it  closes,  properly 


REVELATION   XII.  215 

opened  in  heaven,  and  there  was  seen  in  His  temple  the  ark  of 
His  testament :  and  there  were  lightnings,  and  voices,  and 
thunderings,  and  an  earthquake,  and  great  hail. 

Pagan  Rome  persecuting  the  Church.  ryer  1-6 

And  there  appeared  a  great  wonder1  in  heaven :  a  woman2 
clothed  with  the  sun,  and  the  moon  under  her  feet,  and  upon 
2  her  head  a  crown  of  twelve  stars :  and  she  being  with  child3 
*  cried,  travailing  in  birth,  and  pained  to  be  delivered.     And 
there  appeared  another  wonder*  in  heaven ;  and  behold  a  great 
red  dragon,5  having   seven  heads  and  ten  horns,   and  seven 

4  crowns  upon  his  heads.     And  his  tail  drew  the  third  part  of 
the  stars  of  heaven,  and  did  cast  them  to  the  earth :  and  the 
dragon  stood  before  the  woman  which  was  ready  to  be  delivered, 

5  for  to  devour6  her  child  as  soon  as  it  was  born.     And  she 

enough  (contrary  to  the  opinion  of  those  who  think  this  last  verse  should  have  been 
the  commencement  of  chap,  xii.),  with  the  opening  of  the  temple  and  the  setting  up 
of  the  altar  in  heaven.  The  earthly  temple  appears  no  more  in  this  book. 

1  The  word  rendered  wonder,  <n)fj.etov,  is  rendered  "  sign  "  by  Wiclif,  and  in  the 
Rheims,  and  also  in  the  margin  of  the  A.V.,  which  is  of  the  same  authority  as  the  text, 
which  rendering  is  to  be  preferred.     Everything  is  seen  by  John  in  signs  or  symbols. 

2  In  the  0.  T.,  Zion,  or  the  Church,  is  often  represented  under  the  figure  of  a 
woman.     Here  we  are  to  understand  the  Church,  the  people  of  God,  as  one  body, 
one  indivisible  community.     The  splendour  of  the  sun  is  a  symbol  of  the  glory  of 
the  Lord.     The  moon  is  beneath  her  feet  as  she  stands  in  the  direct  rays  of  the  Sun 
of  Eighteousness.     The  "  crown  of  twelve  stars"  finds  the  key  for  its  interpretation 
in  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  or  the  twelve  apostles  of  the  Lamb.  Comp.xxi.  12  and  14. 

3  The  imagery  in  the  second  verse  expresses  the  promise  of  a  Kedeemer.     Christ 
came  according  to  the  flesh,  and  He  is  the  child. 

4  Should  be  rendered  sign  as  see  note  1. 

5  Must  mean  the  prince  of  this  world,  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,  the  old 
serpent,  actuating  wicked  rulers  among  men,  and  using  them  as  his  instruments. 
The  seven  heads  are  to  be  interpreted  as  referring  to  the  seven  hills  on  which  Borne 
was  situated;  the  ten  horns   to  the   divisions  of  the  Koman  empire;  the  seven 
crowns  are  seven  successive  rulers  of  this  empire,  the  same  as  the  "seven  kings," 
chap.  xvii.  10.     In  respect  to  his  drawing  by  his  tail  "  the  third  part  of  the  stars," 
etc.,  see  similar  language  explained  under  the  fourth  trumpet.    The  prophet  designed 
particularly  to  describe  the  despotic  government  of  Home,  which,  after  having 
despoiled  the  people  of  many  of  their  civil  rights,  and  overthrown  institutions  which, 
if  they  had  been  permitted  to  remain,  would  probably  have  afforded  some  security 
to  Koman  citizens  professing  the  Christian  faith,  at  length  directed  its  energies  to 
exterminate  that  faith. 

6  "  Herod,  the  servant  of  the  dragon  (the  representative  and  vicegerent  of  the 
emperor  of  Rome),  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  the  birth  of  Jesus,  takes  measures  to 
have  the  new  born  Child  despatched,  and  kills  the  children  in  Bethlehem  under  two 
years  old  (well  might  the  dragon  in  this  wholesale  infanticide  be  called  red,  or 
bloody),  that  he  might  make  sure  of  destroying  the  one  hated  CHILD"  (Hengsten- 
berg's  Revelation  of  St.  John,  in  loco). 


216  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OP   ST.  JOHN. 

brought .  forth  a  man  Child,1  who  was  to  rule  all  nations  with  a 
rod  of  iron  :  and  her  child  was  caught2  up  unto  God,  and   to 

6  His  throne.     And  the  woman  fled3  into  the  wilderness,  where 
she  hath  a  place  prepared  of  God,  that  they  should  feed  her 
there  a  thousand  two  hundred  and  threescore  days. 

The  Spiritual  Agents  in  the  Conflict,  and  the  Anticipated 

Victory.  [yer  7_12> 

7  And  there  was  war4  in  heaven :  Michael 5  and   his  angels 
fought  against  the   dragon;  and  the  dragon   fought  and  his 

8  angels,  and  prevailed  not ;  neither  was  their  place  found  any 

9  more  in  heaven.     And  the  great  dragon  was  cast  out,  that  old 
serpent,  called  the  Devil,  and  Satan,6  which  deceiveth  the  whole 
world  :  he  was  cast  out  into  the  earth,  and  his  angels  were  cast 

10 out  with  him.     And  I  heard  a  loud  voice7  saying  in  heaven, 

1  In  the  Greek  vibv  dppeva.    It  points  to  the  Messiah :  see  Ps.  ii.  9.     The  Koman 
power  not  only  stood  ready  to  devour  Him  at  His  birth ;  it  was  by  the  agency  of 
this  same  power  He  was  at  length  actually  brought  to  the  cross. 

2  This  denotes  the  ascension  of  Christ  and  that  dominion  which  He  holds  at  the 
right  hand  of  the  Father. 

3  We  are  more  particularly  to  understand,  by  the  flight  of  the  woman  into  the 
wilderness,  the  Church  fleeing  to  a  place  of  security  on  the  invasion  of  Palestine  by 
the  Eomans.    The  three  years  and  one  half,  or  1260  days,  is  the  continuance  of  that 
invasion.     The  persecution  of  the  Church  is  placed  in  juxtaposition  with  that  of  the 
Son,  and  is  therefore  introduced  here  by  way  of  anticipation.    The  prophet  returns 
to  it  again  in  ver.  14. 

4  This  must  take  its  place  among  the  other  symbolical  representations  of  the 
Apocalypse.    Drs.  Burton  and  Bloomfield  regard  this  passage  as  parenthetical,  and 
referring  to  an  event  belonging  to  the  past ;  the  former  translating,  now  there  had 
been  war  in  heaven.    Mr.  Barnes  thinks  that  the  language  is  such  as  would  be  used 
on  the  supposition  that  there  had  been  at  some  period  a  rebellion  in  heaven,  and 
that  Satan  and  his  followers  had  been  cast  out  to  return  there  no  more.    This 
passage  and  the  words  of  our  Lord  in  Luke  x.  18,  and  of  Jude  6,  furnish  the 
ground  as  far  as  there  is  any  in  Scripture  of  the  common  belief  of  there  having  been 
at  some  period  before  the  creation  of  man  a  rebellion  in  heaven ;  and  of  which 
Milton  has  made  such  extensive  use  in  his  great  poem. 

*'  Th'  infernal  serpent,  he  it  was,  whose  guile, 

Stirr'd  up  with  envy  and  revenge,"  etc.     (Par.  Lost,  i.,  34-43.) 
But  this  common  belief,  so  far  as  it  locates  the  angels  in  heaven  when  the  re- 
bellion took  place,  or  some  of  them  left  their  first  estate,  rests  more  upon  Paradise 
Lost  than  upon  Kevelation. 

5  Some  Protestant  interpreters,  Hengstenberg  e.g.,  maintain  that  Christ  Himself 
is  meant.     This  cannot  be  so,  for  see  Jude  9. 

6  Of  the  four  names  applied  to  this  enemy,  the  first  two  denote  his  power  and 
cunning,  the  other  two  his  intense  hostility. 

7  This  proceeds  from  the  redeemed,   as  they  call  Christians  on  earth  their 
"  brethren."    It  shows  the  deep  interest  which  those  who  have  gained  the  prize  take 
in  believers  on  earth,  struggling  for  victory. 


REVELATION   XII. 


217 


Now  is  come  salvation,  and  strength,  and  the  kingdom  of  our 
God,  and  the  power  of  His  Christ ;  for  the  accuser  of  our  brethren 
is  cast  down,  which  accused  them  before  our  God  day  and 

11  night.     And  they  overcame  him  by  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  and 
by  the  word  of  their  testimony  ;  and  they  loved  not  their  lives 

12  unto  the  death.     Therefore  rejoice,  ye  heavens,  and  ye  that 
dwell  in  them.     "Woe  to  the  inhabiters  of  the  earth  and  of 
the  sea  !  for  the  devil  is  come  down  unto  you,  having  great 
wrath,  because  he  knoweth  that  he  hath  but  a  short  time. 

The  Persecution  Continued.  ^^  13-17 

13  And  when  the  dragon  saw  that  he  was  cast  unto  the  earth,  he 
persecuted  the  woman  which  brought  forth  the  man  Child. 

14  And  to  the  woman  were  given  two  wings  of  a  great  eagle,  that 
she  might  fly  into  the  wilderness,  into  her  place,  where  she  is 
nourished  for  a  time,  and  times,  and  half  a  time,1  from  the  face 

1  The  same  period  as  the  42  months  and  the  1260  days,  chap.  xi.  2,  3,  and  xii.  6. 
It  is  similar  to  the  time,  times,  and  dividing,  or  part  of  a  time,  in  Dan.  vii.  25,  xii. 
7 ;  where  it  is  equivalent  to  the  1290  days,  Dan.  xii.  11,  under  the  persecutions  of 
Antiochus  Epiphanes.  In  Daniel  there  is  no  period  equivalent  to  the  1260  days  of 
the*  Apocalypse.  The  fulfilment  of  passages  in  Daniel  which  contain  notes  of  time 
in  literal  days  may  be  seen  in  the  following  table,  viz. : — 


Dan. 
viii.  13,  14. 

2300  DAYS. 

Subject.  —  Whole 
time  _during  which 
the  sanctuary  and 
the  "host"  (priest- 
hood) would  be 
trodden  under  foot, 
and  the  daily  sacri- 
fice interrupted. 

Events.  —  Massacre 
of    Onias,    the    high 
priest,  by  Antiochus, 
Aug.  5th  (supposed), 
171  B.C. 
The  temple  cleansed 
byMaccabeus.and  the 
daily  sacrifice  restored 
Dec.  25th,  165  B.C. 

Time. 
171  B.C.     Aug.  5th. 
165  B.C.     Dec.  25th. 

6yrs.,  4mos.,20days 
=  2300  days. 

Dan. 
vii.  25. 
xii.  7. 
(margin.) 
xii.  11. 

Subject.  —  The 
taking  away  of  the 
daily  sacrifice.  The 
restoration  of  the 
daily  sacrifice. 

Events.  —  Daily  sa- 
crifice   taken    away, 
May  25th,  168  B.C. 
Kestored  Dec.  25th, 
165  B.C. 

Time. 
168  B.C.     May  25th. 
165  B.C.    Dec.  25th. 

3  yrs.,  7  mos.  =  1290 
days. 

1290  DAYS. 

Dan. 
xii.  12. 

1335  DAYS. 

Subject.  -Blessed- 
ness of  the  believing 
Jews  who  should 
see  the  end  of  the 
persecutions. 

Events.—  The  'daily 
sacrifice  taken  away 
(the    chief     circum- 
stance   in    the    pre- 
dicted  persecutions), 
May  25th,  168  B.C. 
The  persecutor  dead, 
Feb.  10th  (supposed), 
164  B.C. 

Time. 
168  B.C.     May  25th. 
164  B.C.     Feb.  10th. 

3  yrs.,  8  mos.,  15  days 
=  1335  days. 

218  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

of  the  serpent.  And  the  serpent  cast  out  of  his  mouth  water1 
as  a  flood  after  the  woman,  that  he  might  cause  her  to  be 

iC  carried  away  of  the  flood.  And  the  earth  helped2  the  woman  ; 
and  the  earth  opened  her  mouth,  and  swallowed  up  the  flood 

17  which  the  dragon  cast  out  of  his  mouth.  And  the  dragon  was 
wroth  with  the  woman,  and  went  to  make  war  with  the  remnant5 
of  her  seed,  which  keep  the  commandments  of  God,  and  have 
the  testimony  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  Imperial  Magistracy  of  Rome,  the  agency  in  carrying  on  the 

Persecution. 
XIII.]  jTer.  i_.io. 

1  And  I  stood  upon  the  sand  of  the  sea,  and  saw  a  beast4  rise 
up  out  of  the  sea,  having  seven  heads  and  ten  horns,  and  upon 
his  horns  ten  crowns,  and  upon  his  heads  the  name  of  blas- 

2  phemy.5      And  the  beast  which  I  saw  was  like  unto  a  leopard,6 

1  This  is  characteristic  of  the  symbols  in  this  book.  Stuart  well  remarks  "  Quod- 
dam  immane  prodigiosum  is  admissible  in  the  case  of  Satan,  and  we  are  prepared  to 
expect  it." 

'*  When  the  greatest  peril  threatened  the  Church  in  the  pagan  persecution  under 
Nero,  there  is  no  telling  what  evils  this  monster  would  have  inflicted,  if  the  re- 
bellion of  the  Jews  had  not  been  interposed,  and  thus  another  object  been  presented 
on  which  he  might  vent  the  rage  of  his  savage  nature. 

•>  Other  Christians,  besides  those  who  were  the  objects  of  the  persecution  at  first, 
fell  by  the  hands  of  other  emperors,  particularly  Domitian. 

4  Here,  as  Satan  does  not  appear  visibly  and  bodily  on  the  earth,  we  have  that 
earthly  power  which  he  animates,  or  actuates,  represented  by  a  beast  rising  out  of 
the  sea.     The  prophet  Daniel  uses  wild  beasts  as  symbols  of  fierce  and  powerful 
states.     John  was  on  an  island,  hence  the  place  the  sea  occupies  in  the  visions  of 
this  book.     It  is  not  necessary  to  look  for  anything  figurative  in  the  sand  ;  and  if 
the  sea  is  to  be  taken  in  a  figurative  sense,  it  may  be  regarded  as  designating  peoples 
and  nations,  great  masses  of  human  beings.     The  beast  is  a  symbol  of  some  mighty 
cruel  power  coming  up  from  among  and  over  these  masses  and  nations.  The  history 
of  this  beast  is  explained,  chap.  xvii.  7-11.  John  had  an  angel  for  an  interpreter.  It 
was  the  imperial  magistracy  of  Eome.     Its  heads  represent  not  merely  hills,  but 
seven  kings.     The  "  ten  horns  "  are  symbols  of  so  many  kings  subordinate  and 
tributary  to  the  Koman  empire,  chap.  xvii.  12.     Of  course  each  particular  emperor, 
in  whom  all  the  power  of  the  state  centred  during  the  period  of  his  reign,  must  be 
regarded  as  the  beast  itself,  or  its  embodiment. 

5  Emperors  of  Eome  did  not  hesitate  to  assume  divine  titles  and  to  permit  divine 
honours  to  be  paid  to  them.      Divine  honours  were  decreed  to  Julius  Caesar  by  the 
Triumviri.     Caligula  commanded  sacred  rites  to  be  performed  to  him,  as  to  a  god  ; 
Nero  was  called  Divus  and  the  eternal  one.      (Dion  Cassius,  pp.,  337,  459,  643, 
724,  edit.  Leunclav.     Virgil,  Horace,  and  Ovid  style  Augustus  a  god.      EC.  i.  6-8  ; 
Ep.  ii.  1-16 ;  Fast.  i.  1  (13)  ). 

6  The  beast  is  said  to  resemble  beasts  of  prey  of  the  most  ferocious  kind,  to 
indicate  the  bloodthirsty  cruelty  which  would  seize  on  the  objects  of  its  wrath.      Tho 


AUGUSTUS. 


REVELATION   XIII.  219 

and  his  feet  were  as  the  feet  of  a  bear,  and  his  mouth  as  the 
mouth  of  a  lion  ;  and  the  dragon  gave  him  his  power,  and  his 

3  seat,  and  great  authority.     And  I  saw  one  of  his  heads  as  it 
were  wounded  to  death  ;  and  his  deadly  wound  l  was  healed ; 

4  and  all  the  world  wondered  after  the  beast.     And  they  wor- 
shipped 2   the   dragon    which   gave    power   unto    the    beast : 
and   they   worshipped   the   beast,  saying,  Who    is    like  unto 

5  the  beast  ?  who  is  able  to  make  war  with  him  ?     And  there 
was  given   unto    him3  a   mouth  speaking  great  things    and 
blasphemies ;     and  power  was    given   unto    him  to    continue 

6  forty  and  two   months.4     And  he  opened  his  mouth  in  blas- 
phemy against  God,  to  blaspheme  His   name,  and  His  taber- 

7  nacle,  and  them  that  dwell  in  heaven.     And  it  was  given  unto 
him  to  make  war  with  the  saints,  and  to  overcome  them :  and 
power   was  given  him  over  all   kindreds,    and    tongues,  and 

8  nations.5     And  all  that  dwell  upon  the  earth  shall  worship  him, 
whose  names  are  not  written  in  the  book6  of  life  of  the  Lamb 

9  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world.     If  any  man  have  an 

10  ear,  let  him  hear.     He  that  leadeth  into  captivity  shall  go  into 

beasts  of  Dan.  vii.  3,  etc.  are  here  combined  in  one  monster.  Those  to  whom  the 
classical  poets  of  antiquity  gave  divine  titles  and  worship  are  represented  in  this 
verse  as  incarnate  fiends,  or  vicegerents  of  Satan ;  they  exercised  his  power,  they 
were  his  allies  and  instruments. 

1  The  healing  of  this  wound  excited  the  wonder  of  the  world.     What  are  we  to 
understand  by  this  mortal  wound  and  its  being  healed  ?  Ans. — The  overthrow  of  the 
pagan  empire  of  Eome,  but  the  continuance  of  its  power,  as  a  persecuting  power,  in 
another  form. 

2  The  apostle  Paul  pronounces  heathen  worship  to  be  the  worship  of  Satan :  1 
Cor.  x.  20.     If  the  gods  of  the  heathen  were  worthy  of  homage,  it  was  easy  to 
transfer  the  same,  even  to  so  vile  a  person  as  Nero. 

3  The  heathen  magistracy  of  Home  as  represented  by  Nero.     The  ancient  per- 
secutor of  the  Church,  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  is  represented  by  Daniel  as  having  a 
mouth,  speaking  great  things  ;  Dan.  vii.  8,  20. 

4  "  The  persecution  of  Nero  began  in  the  middle  of  Nov.,  A.D.  64 ;  Mosh.  Com.  de 
Eeb.  Chr.,  §  64.  De  Vignoles,  Dissert,  de  causa  et  initio  Persecut.  Neron.,in  Masson's 
Hist.  Critique,  viii.,  p.  74  seq.    It  ended  with  the  death  of  Nero,  which  took  place 
on  the   9th  of  June,  A.D.  68  ;  for  Galba  was  proclaimed  emperor  on  the  9th  of 
June  in  the  same  year,  and  Nero  was  assassinated  on  the  same  day  "  (Stuart). 

5  The  vast  extent  of  the  dominions  of  the  persecutor  is  here  expressed.     It  was 
no  ordinary  individual,  no  petty  prince,  but  a  mighty  ruler,  whose  dominions  were 
nearly  coextensive  with  the  boundaries  of  the  known  world. 

6  In  this  book  the  names  of  the  redeemed  of  the  Lamb  are  inscribed.  We  connect 
the  expression  "  from  the  foundation  of  the  world  "  with  the  Lamb  slain  ;  and  the 
meaning  is,  not  that  Christ  was  actually  put  to  death  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world,  but  that  the  purpose  of  God  was  so  certain  of  accomplishment  that  its 
accomplishment  might  be  represented  as  coeval  with  the  purpose  itself. 


220  THE    LIFE   AND   WAITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

captivity  :l  he  that  killeth  with  the  sword  must  be  killed  with 
the  sword.     Here  is  the  patience  and  the  faith  of  the  saints. 

6.  THE  CORRUPTIONS,  TEMPORAL  POWER,  IMAGE  WORSHIP,  PERSECU- 
TIONS, ETC.,  IN  THE  NOMINALLY  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 

CHAP.  XIII.  11  TO  XIX.  21. 

The  Symbol,  Dominion,  and  Name  of  a  New  Persecuting  Power. 
XIII]  [Yer.  11-18. 

11  And  I  beheld  another  beast  coming2  up  out   of  the  earth ; 
and  he  had  two  horns  like  a  lamb,3  and  he  spake  as  a  dragon. 

12  And  he   exerciseth   all   the  power  of  the  first4  beast  before 

1  It  is  a  striking  fulfilment  of  these  words,  that  Nero,  who  banished  John  to 
Patmos,  and  imprisoned  and  slew  so  many  of  Christ's  servants,  actually  fled  from 
Home,  with  the  view  of  hiding  himself  in  exile,  from  those  who  were  seeking  his  life  ; 
and  that  when  he  fell  into  their  hands,  his  own  sword,  as  is  commonly  supposed,  was 
the  weapon  that  inflicted  the  mortal  wound.     It  was  also  remarkably  fulfilled  in  the 
case  of  Domitian,  Valerian,  Julian,  and  other  pagan  enemies  of  God  and  His  Church. 
There  would  be  room  for  patience  and  room  for  faith  before  this  persecuting  power 
would  be  finally  overthrown. 

2  We  come  now  to  the  disclosure  of  the  evil  and  danger  which  were  to  spring 
from  the  bosom  of  Christianity  itself.     The  prophet,  having  finished  the  description 
of  the  persecuting  power  of  pagan  Borne,  proceeds  to  predict  a  hostile  power,  which 
would  not  be  fully  developed,  or  established,  until  long  after  the  Christians,  for 
whose  consolation  he  immediately  wrote,  had  passed  from  this  earthly  scene.     We 
shall  now  therefore  have  occasion  to  speak  of  Eome,  as  it  is,  or  has  long  been,  since 
the  fall  of  the  Empire,  but  we  mean  Home  strictly,  papal  Rome,  Jesuit  Eome,  and 
not   that   great  and  venerable  body  called  the  Catholic  Church,   as  it  exists  in 
Europe,  on  which  this  papal  power  has  been  long  sitting,  like  a  dire  and  stifling  in- 
cubus.    This  is  a  distinction  that  ought  ever  to  be  made,  as  enabling  us,  on  the  one 
hand,  to  preserve  charity,  and  on  the  other,  to  maintain  the  true  interpretation  of 
those  solemn  prophecies  which  point  to  the  terrible  evil  that  was  to  be  developed  in  the 
history  of  the  Christian  Church.     It  is  thus  only  we  can  preserve  a  feeling  of  brother- 
hood for  our  fellow  Christians,  and  love  them  for  the  saintliness  often  exhibited  in 
their  characters.  *  But  with  Jesuit  Eome,  the  Eome  of  Hildebrand  and  Borgia,  there 
can  be  no  communion.    'She  herself  utterly  repels  it,  and  her  ban  is  to  be  preferred 
to  her  embrace.     See  an  excellent  article,  in  Christian  Statesman,  Phila.,  by  Tayler 
Lewis,  LL.D. 

The  beast  which  represented  pagan  Eome  came  up  out  of  the  sea  ;  this  came  up 
out  of  the  earth,  or  seemed  to  grow  with  somewhat  of  the  silent  progress  of  growing 
plants ;  which  indicates  the  gradual  and  imperceptible  way  in  which  the  corruptions 
of  Christianity  were  introduced. 

3  He  assumed  the  appearance  of  that  inoffensive  animal,  the  name  of  which,  in 
this  book,  is  used  so  frequently  for  the- symbol  of  the  true  Head  of  the  Church. 
Although  such  was  his  outward  semblance,  he  spoke  as  a  dragon  ;  i.e.,  lie  resembled 
the  "  Eoman  emperors  in  usurping  Divine  titles   and  honours,  in  commanding 
idolatry,  and  in  persecuting  and  slaying  the  true  worshippers  of  God  and  faithful 
servants  of  Jesus  Christ." 

4  Nominally  Christian  Eome,  as  early  as  the  eighth  century,  claimed  temporal  as 


REVELATION   XIII.  221 

hiin,  and  causeth  the  earth  and  them  which  dwell   therein  to 

13  worship1  the  first  beast,  whose  deadly  wound  was  healed.2  And 

he  doeth  great  wonders,  so  that  he  maketh  fire  come  down 

well  as  spiritual  power.  "  It  united,"  as  Whiston  observes,  "  all  the  distinct  kingdoms 
of  the  Eoman  empire,  and  by  joining  with  them  secures  them  a  blind  obedience  from 
their  subjects  ;  and  so  it  is  the  occasion  of  the  preservation  of  the  old  Koman  empire 
in  some  kind  of  unity,  and  name,  and  strength." 

1  On  this  there  can  be  no  better  commentary  than  that  contained  in  Dr.  Middle  - 
ton's    celebrated    "  Letter  from    Home,   on  the   similarity  between    Popery  and 
Paganism."    He  informs  us  that  the  object  of  his  visit  to  Kome  was  to  make 
researches  into  some  branches  of  its  antiquities,  and  that  the  very  reason  he  thought 
would  prevent  him  from  noticing  the  religion  of  modern  Eome  was  the  chief  cause 
which  led  him  to  pay  so  much  attention  to  it :  "  for  nothing,"  to  use  his  own  lan- 
guage, "I  found  concurred  so  much  with  my  original  intention  of  conversing  with 
the  ancients,  or  so  much  helped  my  imagination  to  fancy  myself  wandering  about 
in  heathen  Kome,  as  to  observe  and  attend  to  their  religious  worship,"  etc.     The 
use  of  incense  or  perfumes,  holy  water,  of  lamps  and  wax  candles,  of  pictures  and 
votive  offerings,  are  customs  all  borrowed  from  the  heathen.     The  very  composition 
of  this  holy  water  was  the  same  among  the  heathen  as  it  is  now  among  the  papists, 
being  nothing  more  than  a  mixture  of  salt  with  common  water  ;  and  the  form  of  the 
sprinkling  brush  the  same  as  that  which  the  priests  now  make  use  of.     He  shows  that 
the  Church  of  Kome  in  its  present  practice  has  found  means,  by  a  change  only  of  names, 
to  retain  the  same  things.  He  maintains  that  the  statues  which  the  old  Romans  erected 
to  their  deities  have  not  in  all  cases  "been  removed,  but  have  been  retained,  consecrated 
anew  by  the  imposition  of  Christian  names.    He  says  :  "  in  their  very  priesthood  they 
have  contrived,  one  would  think,  to  keep  up  as  near  a  resemblance  as  they  could  to 
that  of  pagan  Kome,  and  the  sovereign  pontiff,  instead  of  deriving  his  succession  from 
St.  Peter,  may  with  more  reason,  and  a  much  better  plea,  style  himself  the  suc- 
cessor of  Pontifex  Maximus,   or  chief  priest  of  old  Kome,  whose  authority  and 
dignity  were  the  greatest  in  the  republic."     (But  see  the  Letter,  passim.)    Mosheim 
speaking  of  the  fourth  century  says  :  "  the  Christian  bishops  introduced,  with  but 
slight  alteration,  into  the  Christian  worship,  those  rites  and  institutions  by  which 
formerly  the  Greeks  and  Romans  and  other  pagans  had  manifested  their  reverence 
towards  their  imaginary  deities."     There  was  little  difference  betwen  the  public 
worship  of  the  Christians  and  that  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans.     In  both  there  were 
splendid  robes,  mitres,  tiaras,  wax  tapers,  crosiers,  processions,  images,  gold  and 
silver  vases,  and  innumerable  other  things  alike." 

The  late  Dr.  Alford,  Dean  of  Canterbury,  so  well  known  by  his  Commentary  on 
the  Greek  Testament,  bears  similar  testimony  in  a  series  of  letters  from  Italy,  in 
Good  Words.  He  says:  "Rome  is  essentially  a  pagan  city.  Her  churches  are 
numerous  as  the  days  of  the  year,  yet,  with  rare  exceptions,  the  worship  of  the 
people  has  nothing  in  common  with  Christianity.  God  has  passed  out  of  the 
practical  worship  of  this  people ;  the  Son  of  God  has,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  ceased 
to  be  an  object  of  their  adoration.  The  Madonna  has  usurped  the  place  of  the 
Divine  Son,  and  even  of  the  whole  Three  Persons  in  the  Holy  Trinity." 

2  This  reference,  or  identification,  confirms  the  interpretation  of  the  healing  of 
the    deadly  wound,  ver.  3,  as  designed  to  prefigure  the  revival  and  preservation 
of  the  Roman  power  in  a  new  form,  with  somewhat  of  its  original  ability  and 
disposition  to  persecute  and  injure  the  Christian  cause.     The  beast  that  rose  up 
out  of  the  sea,  and  had  a  wound  by  the  sword  and  did  live,  survived  in  the  image 
that  was  made  to  him,  and  was  worshipped  precisely  as  the  beast  himself  had  been 
worshipped. 


222  THE   LIFE   AND    WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

14  from  heaven  on  the  earth  in  the  sight  of  men,  and  deceiveth 
them  that  dwell  on  the  earth  by  the  means  of  those  miracles1 
which  he  had  power  to  do  in  the  sight  of  the  beast ;  saying  to 
them  that  dwell  on  the  earth,  that  they  should  make  an  image 
to  the  beast,  which  had  the  wound  by  a  sword,  and  did  live. 

15  And  he  had  power  to  give  life  unto  the  image2  of  the  beast, 

1  It  is  here  foretold  that  this  new  beast,  by  which  we  understand  papal  Eome, 
or  the  Church  in  its  usurpation  of  temporal  power  and  consequent  corruptions, 
would  profess  or  seem  to  work  miracles.     "  Any  one  who  has  read  the  story  of  the 
holy  fire  at  the  Church  of    the  Sepulchre  in  Jerusalem   will  be   at  no  loss  to 
imagine  that  the  accomplishment  of  such  a  thing,  in  the  view  of  the  populace, 
was  not  difficult.     A  moderate  skill  in  pyrotechnics  could  perform  such  a  feat " 
(Stuart).    Dean  Alford,  in  the  letters  referred  to  above,  gives  an  account  of  his 
visit  to  the  miraculous  picture  of  the  Madonna  at  Vico  Varro,  near  Tivoli,  and 
says  :  "  Winking  images,  miracle  working  images,  speaking  images,  are  among  the 
very  commonest  tricks  of  this  degraded  priesthood,  and  are  implicitly  believed  in 
by  the  people."      The  Komish  Breviary  is  replete  with   examples  of  miracles 
wrought  by  the  saints :  St.  Francis  Xavier  turned  salt  water  into  fresh,  and  saved 
the  lives  of  five  hundred  travellers  who  were  dying  of  thirst ;  St.  Raymond  laid 
his  cloak  on  the  sea,  and  sailed  from  Majorca  to  Barcelona,  a  distance  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty  miles,  in  six  hours. 

2  The  popedom,  or  the  pope  himself  for  the  time  being,  is  the  living  represent- 
ative of  usurped  worldly  power.     By  the  temporal  authority,  which  every  pope  who 
has  assumed  it  has  perpetuated,  and  by  preserving  the  old  spirit  of  intolerance 
and  cruelty,  as  well  as  the  idolatrous  ritual  of  pagan  Eome,  he  may  be  said  to  give 
life  to  the  image  of  the  beast,  "  whose  deadly  wound  was  healed."    The  history  of 
the  popedom  teaches  it  is  unsafe  to  predict  too  positively  that  the  temporal  power 
of  which  Victor  Emmanuel  stripped  Pio  Nono  by  the  entrance  of  the  Italian  army 
into  Italy,  September  20th,  1870,  is  a  permanent  dispossession.    Home  has  seen 
many  vicissitudes.     It  was  in  the  eighth  century  that  the  temporal  power  had  its 
commencement.     It  was  in  A.D.  754  that  Pepin  crossed    the  Alps,  defeated  the 
Lombards,  and  conferred  the  exarchate  of  Eavenna  and  Pentapolis  on  the  pope. 
This  was  the  origin  of  the  pontifical  sovereignty.     Under  Charlemagne  the  popes 
were  invested  with  further  power.     He  conferred  on  them  Spoleto  and  Perugia. 
Boniface  VIII.  attempted  to  complete  the  mighty  work  of  his  predecessors,  by  the 
subjection  of  all  the  kings  of  the  earth  to  the  pontifical  authority.    In  the  council 
held  at   Eome  in  1302  he  composed  the  famous  decretal,  Unam  Sanctam,  which 
asserts  that  the  power  of  kings  is  to  be  held  subordinate  to  that  of  popes,  and  that 
popes  have  the  right  of  appointing,  correcting,  and  deposing  them ;  but  the  tem- 
poral power  has  been  by  no  means  held  during  this  long  period  in  undisputed 
possession.     The  revolution  in  1848  expelled  the  present  pontiff,  who  was  restored 
by  Louis  Napoleon  by  force  of  arms,  only  to  a  small  remnant  however  of   his 
former  territorial  dominions,  the  city  of  Eome  and  its  immediate  adjacent  terri- 
tory.    While  it  may  be  too  soon  to  affirm  that  diplomacy  and  foreign  arms  may 
not  again  force  back  on  Eome  the  despotism  from  which  it  has  been  delivered, 
there  are  certain  reasons  which  render  such  a  result,  to  say  the  least,  quite  improb- 
able:  i.e.    (I)   The  pope  has  been  dispossessed  by  a  king  who  claims  to   be  a 
loyal  son  of  the  church.     (2)  The  effect  in  Eoman  Catholic  countries,  particularly 
Germany  and  France,  of  the  decree  of  infallibility.      (3)  The  great  change  among 
the  nations  of  Europe,  by  which  those  known  as  Eoman  Catholic  have  lost  greatly 
in  influence,  and  Protestant  powers  have  gained  in  equal  if  not  greater  proportion. 


EEVELATION   XIV.  223 

that  the  image  of  the  beast  should  both  speak,  and  cause  that 
as  many  as  would  not  worship  the  image  of  the  beast  should  be 

16  killed.     And  he  causeth  all,  both  small  and    great,  rich  and 
poor,  free  and  bond,  to  receive  a  mark1  in  their  right  hand,  or 

1 7  in  their  foreheads  :  and  that  no  man  might  buy  or  sell,  save  he 
that  had  the  mark,  or  the  name  of  the  beast,  or  the  number  of 

18  his  name.     Here  is  wisdom.     Let  him  that  hath  understanding 
count  the  number2  of  the  beast :  for  it  is  the  number  of  a  man  ; 
and  his  number  is  Six  hundred  threescore  and  six. 

The  gloomy  picture  relieved  by  a  vision  of  the  heavenly  glory ,  and 
of  the  flying  angel  having  the  everlasting  gospel  to  preach . 

XIV.]  (Tor.  1-7 

And  I  looked,  and,  lo,  a  Lamb3  stood  on  the  mount  Sion,4 

1  Allusion  is  here  made  to  an  ancient  custom,  by  which  slaves  received  a  mark, 
xdpay/jia,  of  their  masters,  and  soldiers  of  their  commanders,  on  their  persons,  as  a 
sign  of  abject  servitude  or  submission.     All  who  had  not  the  mark  of  the  beast, 
i.e.  who  had  not  owned  subjection  to  the  papacy,  were  to  be  deprived  of  political 
privileges,  even  to  be  prohibited  from  traffic  and  commerce.     In  fulfilment  of  this 
it  is  on  record  that  during  the  reign  of  William  the  Conqueror  none  but  avowed 
Koman  Catholics  among  his  subjects  were  permitted  to  buy  and  sell.    Pope  Alex- 
ander III.  published  an  edict,  in  which  he  prohibited,  on  pain  of  anathema,  any 
Koman  Catholic  from  trading  with  the  Waldenses  and  Albigenses.  In  a  bull  by  Pope 
Martin  V.,  after  the  Council  of  Constance,  his  subjects  were  commanded  not  to 
permit  the  heretics  to  own  houses,  or  enter  into  contracts,  or  carry  on  commerce. 
A  similar  edict,  as  noticed  by  the  learned  Joseph  Mede,  was  published  by  the  pagan 
emperor  Diocletian  in  the  bloody  persecution  he  carried  on  against  the  Christians. 

2  Irenreus,  Adv.  Hares.,  v.  30,  refers  to  the  fact  that  the  number  of  this  name 
may  be  made  to  agree  with  a  variety  of  names,  but  speaks  of  it  as  undoubtedly 
expressing  the  name  of  Antichrist.     After  cautions  against  the  fanciful  interpreta- 
tions which  might  be  made  out  from  the  number  666,  he  mentions  several  names 
as  answering  to  this  number,  among  them  that  of  AATEINOS,  Lateinus.    Taking 
the  letters  in  their  order,  and  giving  them  their  value  according  to  the  system  of 
notation  among  the  Greeks,  we  have  30  +  1  +  300  +  5  +  10  +  50  +  70  +  200  =  666.     It 
has  been  well  remarked  by  Mr.  Pyle,  in  his  "  Paraphrase,""  quoted  by  Bp.  Newton, 
that  "  no  other  word  in  any  language  can  be  found  to  express  both  the  same  number 
and  the  same  thing."   After  the  division  of  the  empire  the  people  of  the  Church  of 
Home  were  called  Latins,  and  to  the  present  day  that  Church  is  not  unfrequently 
called  the  Latin  Church.     The  original  is  more  impressive  than  the  translation  ; 
the  xa/>a7/"a  666  is  not  written  out,  but  is  expressed  by  the  three  letters  x£s-     I* 
has  been  suggested  by  Herder  and  Hengstenberg  that  there  may  have  been  some 
design  and  significance  in  this  mode  of  writing  the  name.    The  first  and  last  of  these 
letters  are  the  common  abbreviation  of  the  name  of  Christ.     The  £  in  the  middle  is 
in  form  like  the  serpent  or  dragon,  representing  Satan  chaps,  xii.  9  and  xx.  2 ;  so 
•that  in  the  mark,  or  name,  we  have  anti-Christ. 

3  In  marked  contrast  with  the  beast  of  the  preceding  chapter,  which  had  the 
appearance  of  a  lamb.     This  is  the  true  Lamb. 

4  Sion  was  one  of  the  hills  in  the  earthly  Jerusalem,  and  one  of  the  names  by 


224  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OP    ST.  JOHN. 

and  with  Him  a  hundred  forty  and  four  thousand,1  having  His 

2  Father's  name  written  in  their  foreheads.    And  I  heard  a  voice2 
from  heaven,  as  the  voice   of  many  waters,  and  as  the  voice  of 
a  great  thunder :   and  I  heard  the  voice  of  harpers  harping 

3  with  their  harps  :  and  they  sung  as  it  were  a  new  song  before 
the  throne,  and  before  the  four  beasts,  and  the  elders  :  and  no 
man  could  learn  that  song  but  the  hundred  and  forty  and  four 

4  thousand,  which  were  redeemed  from  the   earth.     These  are 
they  which  were  not  denied  with  women;  for  they  are  virgins. 
These  are  they  which  follow  the  Lamb  whithersoever  He  goeth. 
These  were  redeemed  from  among  men,  being  the  firstfruits3 

5  unto  God  and  to  the  Lamb.     And  in  their  mouth  was  found  no 
guile  :  for  they  are  without  fault  before  the    throne   of  God. 

6  And  I  saw  another  angel  fly  in  the  midst  of  heaven,  having  the 
everlasting   gospel  to  preach4  unto  them   that    dwell  on  the 
earth,  and  to    every   nation,  and  kindred,   and   tongue,   and 

7  people,  saying  with  a  loud  voice,  Fear  God,  and  give  glory  to 
Him;  for  the  hour5  of  His  judgment  is  come:    and  worship 
Him  that  made  heaven,  and  earth,  and  the'  sea,  and  the  fount- 
ains of  waters. 

which  the  whole  city  was  called.  But  as  in  this  prophecy  the  destruction  of  that 
city  has  now  been  accomplished,  henceforward,  whenever  Jerusalem,  the  temple,  the 
altar  are  mentioned,  the  City,  Temple,  and  Altar  in  heaven  are  intended. 

1  These  are  the  same  the  vision  of  whose  sealing  we  have  in  chap.  vii.   1-8. 
The  mark,  or  seal,  was  "His  [the  Lamb's]  Father's  name  written  in  their  fore- 
heads."    They  were  the  redeemed  "  out  of  all  the  tribes  of  the  children  of  Israel." 

2  This  was  the  voice  of  the  sealed  ones,  for  none  but  they  could  learn  the  song 
that  was  sung.     The  prophecy  now  clearly  relates  to  a  time  when  the  first  converts 
to  Christianity,  from  among  the  Jews,  represented  by  the  144,000,  were  all  deceased 
and  in  heaven  ;  and  therefore  to  a  period  considerably  posterior  to  the  overthrow  of 
the  Jewish  persecuting  power  and  the  times  of  the  apostle  John.      This  vision  of 
the  enthroned  and  conquering  Son  of  God,  in  the  midst  of  those  already  saved  by 
Him,  and  receiving  their  homage,  occurring  as  it  does  in  the  melancholy  picture  of 
the  apostasy,  corruptions  and  persecutions  of  the  papacy,  is  admirably  fitted  to 
impart  consolation. 

3  An  expression  which  clearly  means  that  they  were  the  earliest  converts  to 
Christianity,  who  were,  as  is  well  known,  from  among  the  Jews.    Their  ingathering 
is  a  pledge  of  the  ingathering  of  all  the  followers  of  the  Lamb  to  the  same  glory. 

4  This  is  a  figurative  representation  of  the  spread  and  ultimate  triumph  of  the 
gospel ;  and  occurring  as  it  does  in  the  midst  of  predictions  which  relate  to  abuses 
and  corruptions  of  Christianity,  it  must  have  animated,  and  may  still  serve  to  ani- 
mate, a  true  Christian  faith. 

5  When  the  time  is  arrived  for  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  to  all  nations,  then 
will  be  the  hour  for  the  overthrow  of  that  antichrist iaii  power  represented  by  the 
beast  that  grew  up  out  of  the  earth,  having  horns  like  a  lamb;,  but  with  the  speech 
of  a  dragon. 


REVELATION   XIV.  225 

Judgments  on  the  Papacy. 

[Ver.  8-20. 

And  there  followed  another  angel,,  saying,  Babylon1  is  fallen, 

is  fallen/  that  great  city,  because  she  made  all  nations  drink 

9  of  the  wine8  of  the  wrath  of  her  fornication.      And  the  third 

angel  followed  them,  saying  with  a  loud  voice,  If  any  man 

worship  the  beast  and  his  image,  and  receive  his  mark  in  his 

10 forehead,  or  in  his  hand,  the  same  shall  drink  of  the  wine4 

of  the  wrath  of  God,  which  is  poured  out  without  mixture  into 

the  cup  of  His  indignation  ;  and  he  shall  be  tormented  with  fire 

and  brimstone  in  the  presence  of  the  holy  angels,  and  in  the 

11  presence  of  the  Lamb  :  and  the   smoke  of  their  torment  as- 
cendeth  up  for  ever  and  ever :  and  they  have  no  rest  day  nor 
night,  who  worship  the  beast  and  his  image,  and  whosoever  re- 

12  ceiveth  the  mark  of  his  name.     Here  is  the  patience5  of   the 
saints  :  here  are  they  that  keep  the  commandments  of  God,  and 

13  the  faith  of  Jesus.  And  I  heard  a  voice6  from  heaven  saying  unto 

1  BABYLON  :  as  this  name  occurs  frequently  in  subsequent  parts  of  this  book,  it 
is  important  to  determine  its  significance  and  application.     It  was  the  name  of  a 
well  known  city  on  the  Euphrates,  one  of  the  most  splendid  and  powerful  capitals 
of  antiquity.     It  was  here  that  God's  chosen  people  were  held  in   captivity  and 
greatly  oppressed.     It  was  the  capital  of  a  vast  empire,  the  religion  of  which  was 
idolatry,  and  the  government  of  which  was  in  the  hands  of  a  single  despot,  whose 
arbitrary  will,  both  in  respect  to  civil  affairs  and  the  idols  which  the  people  might 
worship,  was  the  supreme  law.  This  literal  Babylon  was  no  more.    The  prophecies 
in  regard  to  it,  uttered  by  Isaiah,  had  long  since  been  fulfilled.     That  Borne  is  to 
be  understood  by  Babylon  is  almost  'universally  agreed,  not  excepting  even  Boman 
Catholic  commentators.  Borne,  at  the  time  the  apostle  lived,  had  succeeded  to  that 
position  in  the  empire  of  the  world  which  Babylon  had  anciently  filled.     But  it  is 
not  pagan  Borne  which  is  here  meant,  but  that  Borne  which  had  made  an  image  to 
the  beast  which  rose  up  out  of  the  sea,  having  seven  heads  and  ten  horns,  and  thus 
preserved  the  old  empire  in  some  sort  of  unity  and  strength  ;  it  is  Borne  as  per- 
petuated in  the  papal  dominion. 

2  So  inevitable  is  its  fall  that  the  angel  speaks  of  it  as  already  fallen.     Mystical 
Babylon  was  a  fallen  city  when  the  Divine  decree  went  forth,  that  on  account  of 
her  abominations  she  should  fall. 

3  Jeremiah  had  said  of  ancient  Babylon,  it  "  hath  been  a  golden  cup  in  the 
Lord's  hand,  that  made  all  the  earth  drunken  "  (Jer.  li.  7).     The  modern  Babylon 
is  represented  as  a  harlot,  with  a  cup  of  wine,  inflaming  men  to  commit  fornica- 
tion ;  a  figure  usual  in  the  sacred  Scriptures,  especially  the  prophets,  for  idolatry. 

4  "  This,  above  all  measure,  dreadful  threatening  is  undoubtedly  the  most  severe 
to  be  found  in  Scripture  "  (Bengel).     It  is  directed  against  those  who  are  guilty  of 
idolatry,  and  of  worshipping  the  beast  and  his  image  and  receiving  his  mark,  by  the 
abject  submission  of  their  consciences  to  the  see  and  priesthood  of  Borne.     Idolatry 
certainly  is  not  less  offensive  to  God  in  papal  than  in  pagan  Borne. 

6  Here  is  that  which  will  try  the  patience  of  the  saints  in  the  long  continued 
persecutions. 

6  "We  are  not  told  that  this  was  the  voice  of  the  Lord,  or  of  an  angel ;  and  why 

Q 


226  THE    LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

me,  Write,  Blessed  are  the  dead  which  die  in  the  Lord  from 
henceforth  :l  Yea,   saith  the   Spirit,2  that  they  may  rest  from 

14  their  labours  ;  and  their  works  do  follow  them.     And  I  looked, 
and  behold3  a  white  cloud,  and  upon  the  cloud  one  sat  like  unto 
the  Son  of  man,4  having  on  His  head  a  golden  crown,  and  in 

15  His  hand  a  sharp  sickle.     And  another  angel  came  out  of  the 
temple,5  crying  with  a  loud  voice  to  Him  that  sat  on  the  cloud, 
Thrust  in  Thy  sickle,  and  reap :  for  the  time  is  come  for  Thee 

16  to  reap  ;  for  the  harvest  of  the  earth  is  ripe.    And  He  that  sat 
on  the  cloud  thrust  in  His  sickle  on  the  earth ;  and  the  earth 

17  was  reaped.     And  another  angel  came  out  of  the  temple  which 

18  is  in  heaven,  he  also  having  a  sharp  sickle.     And  another  angel 
came  out  from  the  altar,  which  had  power  over  fire;  and  cried 
with  a  loud  cry  to  Him  that  had  the  sharp  sickle,  saying,  Thrust 
in  Thy  sharp  sickle,  and  gather  the  clusters  of  the  vine  of  the 

19  earth ;  for  her  grapes  are  fully  ripe.     And  the  angel  thrust  in 
His  sickle  into  the  earth,  and  gathered  the  vine  of  the  earth,  and 

20  cast  it  into  the  great  winepress  of  the  wrath  of  God.     And  the 
winepress  was  trodden  without  the  city,  and  blood  came  out  of 
the  winepress,  even  nnto  the  horse  bridles,  by  the  space  of  a 
thousand  and  six  hundred  furlongs.6 

may  we  not  suppose  it  was  that  of  one  of  the  redeemed  from  earth,  once  a  sharer 
in  the  sufferings  and  sorrows  of  life,  now  employed  to  bear  testimony  that  they 
who  die  in  the  Lord  are  blessed  ?  It  is  the  dead,  those  who  have  passed  out  of  life, 
who  are  the  subject  of  the  declaration  ;  not  the  dead  indiscriminately,  only  those 
who  die  in  the  Lord. 

1  There  is  no  reference  here  to  time  gone  before,  as  if  there  could  have  been  a 
time  when  those  who  died  in  the  Lord  were  not  blessed.     It  means,  substantially, 
even  now,  already,  i.e.,  immediately  upon  their  departure  from  this  world.     It  has 
its  proper  explanation  in  the  words  of  the  apostle,  "  absent  from  the  body,  present 
with  the  Lord  "  (2  Cor.  v.  8). 

2  The  Holy  Spirit  responds  to  the  voice  from  heaven  "  Yea,"  and  adds,  "  that 
they  may  rest  from  their  labours,"  etc. 

3  In  the  remainder  of  this  chapter,  "  what  in  history  is  realized  in  a  whole 
series  of  judicial  acts,  which  at  the  last  run  out  into  the  final  judgment,  is  here 
brought  together  in  one  great  harvest,  one  great  vintage  and  pressing  of  the  grapes." 

4  The  true  sense  of  this  title  is  determined  by  its  use  in  Daniel  vii.  13,  where  it  is 
confessedly  applied  to  the  coming  Messiah,  as  a  partaker  of  our  nature,  implying  of 
course  that  He  had  a  higher  nature.     See  Note,  chap.  i.  13. 

5  The  temple  was  the  temple  as  seen  by  John  in  heaven  (see  ver.  17).     The 
angel,  or  messenger,  crying  to  the  Son  of  man  and  issuing  the  command  to  thrust 
in  his  sickle,  is  to  be  understood  merely  as  maintaining  the  symbolical  action  in 
the  piece,  or  he  may  be  understood  as  bringing  to  Christ  the  commission  of  the 
Father. 

6  So  deep  is  the  sea  of  blood  which  issues  from   the  winepress  that  it  reaches 
even  unto  the  horse  bridles,  as  on  a  field  of  slaughter.     This  sea  would  extend  far 


REVELATION    XV.  227 

Seven  Vials  of  the  last  Plagues  delivered  to  Seven  Angels. 

XV.] 

And  I  saw  another  sign  in  heaven,  great  and  marvellous, 
seven  angels  having  the  seven  1  last  plagues ;  for  in  them  is 
J  filled  up  the  wrath  of  God.  And  I  saw 2  as  it  were  a  sea  of 
glass  mingled  with  fire  :  and  them  that  had  gotten  the  victory 
over  the  beast,  and  over  his  image,  and  over  his  mark,  and 
over  the  number  of  his  name,  stand  on  ^he  sea 3  of  glass,  having 

3  the  harps  of  God.     And  they  sing  the  song4  of  Moses  the 
servant  of  God,  and  the  song  of  the  Lamb,  saying,  Great  and 
marvellous  are  Thy  works,  Lord  God  Almighty ;  just  and  true 

4  are  Thy  ways,  Thou  King  of  saints.     Who  shall  not  fear  Thee, 
0  Lord,  and  glorify  Thy  name  ?  for  Thou  only  art  holy :  for 
all  nations  shall  come  and  worship  before  Thee  ;  for  Thy  judg- 

5  ments    are    made    manifest.     And    after   that   I    looked,   and, 
behold,  the  temple  of  the  tabernacle  of  the  testimony  in  heaven 

6  was  opened :    and  the  seven  angels  came  out  of   the  temple, 
having  the  seven  plagues,  clothed  in  pure  and  white  linen,5 

7  and  having  their  breasts  girded  with  golden  girdles.     And  one 
of  the  four  beasts 6  gave  unto  the  seven  angels  seven  golden 
vials  full  of  the  wrath   of  God,  who  liveth  for  ever  and  ever. 

beyond  the  city's  walls.  That  it  would  be  of  great  extent  is  perhaps  all  that  was 
intended.  But  it  has  been  observed  by  Mede  that  the  State  della  Chiesa,  or  terri- 
tory of  the  Church,  over  which  the  Pope,  until  recently,  has  been  the  acknowledged 
temporal  head,  extending  from  the  city  of  Eome  to  the  banks  of  the  Po  and  the 
marches  of  Verona,  contains  200  Italian  miles,  just  equal  to  the  1600  furlongs. 

1  As  the  seven  trumpets  are  included  under  the  seventh  seal,  so  the  seven  vials 
are  included  under  the  seventh  trumpet.        , 

2  The  main  subject  of  this  chapter  is  the  preparatory  vision  of  the  happiness  and 
victory  of  those  who,  in  lifetime,  had  refused  to  submit  to  the  authority  of  the 
beast,  and  had  been  persecuted  by  him.     The  design  of  its  introduction  here  is 
similar  to  that  of  the  vision  of  the  144,000  (chap.  xiv.  1-5),  namely  to  throw  light 
into  the  dark  picture,  and  to  animate  and  console  the  people  of  God. 

3  This  victorious  company  wa§  standing  on  a  sea  of  glass,  or  a  pavement  resem- 
bling a  sea  of  glass,  variegated  with  a  red  or  fiery  colour. 

4  A  song  similar  to  the  triumphal  song  (Exod.  xv.)  on  the  deliverance  of  the 
children  of  Israel  from  bondage,  and  they  sung  the  new  song  in  honour  of  the 
Lamb. 

6  John  now  sees  the  temple  of  the  tabernacle  of  the  testimony  opened  in  heaven. 
"  These  judgments  would  be  executed  on  the  enemies  of  the  church,  in  mercy  to 
the  people  of  God ;  while  the  white  clothing  and  golden  girdles,  worn  by  these 
ministers  of  vengeance,  represented  their  holiness,  and  the  righteousness  and 
excellence  of  these  awful  dispensations  "  (Bloomfield). 

6  See  Note,  chap.  iv.  6,  where  the  beasts  are  explained  as  symbolical  beings 
representing  the  government  or  providence  of  God. 


228  THE    LIFE    AND   WKITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

8  And  the  temple  was  filled  with  smoke  from  the  glory  of  God, 
and  from  His  power ;  and  no  man  was  able  to  enter  into  the 
temple,  till  the  seven  plagues  of  the  seven  angels  were  fulfilled. 

The  First  Six  Vials  poured  out. 
XVI.]  [Ver.  1-16. 

1  And  I  heard  a  great  voice  out  of  the  temple  saying  to  the 
seven  angels,  Go  your  ways,  and   pour  out  the  vials  l  of  the 

2  wrath  of  God  upon  the  earth.    And  the  first  went,  and  poured 
out   his  vial  upon  the  earth ;    and  there  fell  a   noisome  and 
grievous  sore  upon  the  men  which  had  the  mark  of  the  beast, 

3  and  upon  them  which  worshipped  his  image.1     And  the  second 
angel  poured  out  his  vial  upon  the  sea;  and  it  became  as  the 
blood  3  of  a  dead  man :  and  every  living  soul  died  in  the  sea. 

1  Let  it  be  understood,  these  vials  were  designed  to  predict  the  judgments  or 
chastisements  to  be  sent  upon  papal  Eome. 

First  Vial.     Priestcraft  and  Degeneracy  of  the  Clergy. 

*  The  idolatry  of  the  men  that  worshipped  the  beast  was  to  be  punished  by  the 
vices  and  exactions  of  those  whom  they  credulously  followed  as  spiritual  guides.  In 
the  time  of  theEeformation,  in  order  to  obtain  the  intercessions  of  the  Virgin  Mary, 
or  some  pretended  saint,  the  people  were  required  to  bring  money,  fowls,  eggs,  wax, 
butter,  and  everything  that  was  of  any  value  to  the  priests.  Eelics  were  introduced 
to  increase  the  revenues  of  bishops  and  monks.  In  one  place  a  seller  of  indulgences 
might  have  been  seen,  with  his  head  adorned  with  a  feather  from  the  wing  of  the 
archangel  Michael.  In  another  was  shown  a  fragment  of  Noah's  ark,  some  soot 
from  the  furnace  of  the  three  children,  a  piece  of  wood  from  the  crib  of  the  infant 
Jesus.  Impunity  for  crime  was  even  purchased  by  money. 

The  houses  of  the  clergy  were  the  resorts  of  the  dissolute,  and  the  scene  of 
numerous  excesses.  Some  imitated  the  customs  of  the  East,  and  had  their  harems. 
Priests  frequented  taverns,  played  dice,  and  finished  their  orgias  by  quarrels  and 
blasphemy.  They  scaled  walls  in  the  night,  committed  disturbances  and  disorders 
of  all  kinds,  and  broke  open  doors  and  locks.  (See  Hist,  of  the  Eef.,  by  Dr.  J.  H. 
Merle  d'Aubigne,  vol.  i.,  pp.  45-54.)  Such  was  the  noisome  and  grievous  sore 
which  fell  on  the  men  who  had  the  mark  of  the  beast,  and  worshipped  his  image. 

The  Second  and  Third  Vials.     Mohammedan  power  in  the  Seventh,  and  Otto- 
man power  in  the  Thirteenth,  centuries. 

3  There  appears  to  be  a  close  connection  between  the  second  and  third  vials,  as 
both  are  poured  upon  the  waters  and  their  effects  are  similar ;  the  sea  became 
blood,  and  the  rivers  and  fountains  became  blood.  We  shall  derive  assistance  in 
understanding  what  was  here  predicted  by  attending  to  the  meaning  of  what  John 
heard  the  angel  of  the  waters  say :  "  Thou  art  righteous,  0  Lord,"  etc.  He  de- 
clared the  righteousness  of  God  in  visiting  with  retributive  justice  the  kingdom  of 
the  beast,  and  those  who  had  received  his  mark.  As  they  had  delighted  in  shed- 
ding blood,  God  gave  them  blood  to  drink.  Persecutions  of  papal  Eome  far  ex- 
ceeded, both  in  degree  and  duration,  those  carried  on  by  the  pagan  emperors  of 


REVELATION    XVI.  229 

4  And  the  third  angel  poured  out  his  vial  upon  the  rivers  and 

5  fountains  of  waters ;    and  they  became  blood.     And  I  heard 
the  angel  of  the  waters  say,  Thou  art  righteous,  0  Lord,  which 

Home.  Indeed,  it  has  been  estimated  that,  in  the  papal  persecution,  more  than 
ten  times  the  number  of  Christians  perished  than  in  all  the  ten  persecutions  of  the 
Eoman  emperors  put  together. 

Seas,  rivers,  and  fountains,  turned  into  blood,  are  proper  emblems  of  widespread 
devastation  and  slaughter.  Here  then  are  foretold  the  bloody  victories  of  Moham- 
med and  his  successors.  Early  in  the  seventh  century,  this  impostor  began  to 
publish  that  he  was  favoured  with  revelations  from  God.  At  first  he  met  with 
little  success ;  but  he  gradually  acquired  such  ascendancy  among  the  Saracens, 
that  they  adopted  his  religion,  enlisted  under  his  banner,  and  he  led  them  forth  to 
propagate  his  religion  by  the  sword.  Many  nations,  where  once  the  light  of  Christ- 
ianity shone,  but  among  whom  the  doctrines  of  Christianity  had  become  greatly 
corrupted,  were  subdued.  They  desolated  and  oppressed  the  Greek  and  Latin 
churches  ;  they  repeatedly  besieged  Constantinople,  and  even  plundered  the  suburbs 
of  Home.  Incredible  as  it  may  seem,  yet  in  the  short  space  of  little  more  than 
eighty  years  the  disciples  of  Mohammed  had  subdued  Palestine,  Syria,  Portugal, 
Spain,  Egypt,  Numidia,  all  Barbary,  and  had  overrun  almost  all  Asia  Minor.  Nor 
did  they  stop  here  till  they  had  added  a  great  part  of  Italy,  as  far  as  to  the  gates  of 
Home,  and  even  the  islands  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  It  seemed,  at  one  time, 
"  that  the  threat  of  Muza  would  come  to  pass,  that  the  name  of  Mohammed  should 
be  proclaimed  in  the  Vatican."  Such  was  the  bloody  scourge  which  God  raised  up 
against  an  apostate  church.  The  Saracens  even  advanced  into  France,  design- 
ing the  conquest  of  Europe  and  the  extermination  of  Christianity.  Much  blood 
was  shed ;  but  it  was  not  for  the  extermination  of  Christianity  'that  this  scourge 
was  raised  up,  but  for  the  chastisement  of  those  who  had  shed  the  blood  of  the 
saints. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  the  Ottoman  power  arose ;  and  it 
is  from  this  point  we  may  date  the  third  vial.  They  were  converted  to  the 
Mohammedan  faith;  but  at  a  subsequent  period  turned  their  arms  against  the 
Saracens,  conquered  them,  and  subjugated  such  parts  of  Asia  and  Africa  as  had  sub- 
mitted to  the  Mohammedan  faith.  Under  the  third  sovereign  of  this  new  dynasty 
the  plan  was  conceived,  a  second  time,  of  blotting  from  existence  the  religion  which 
professed  to  be  derived  from  the  gospel.  Thus  did  God  continue  to  scourge  the 
beast,  and  visit  those  who  bore  his  mark  with  retributive  justice.  But  Christianity 
was  not  to  be  exterminated.  The  Ottomans  were  put  in  check  by  Tamerlane,  who 
also  professed  the  Mohammedan  faith,  and  who,  in  his  turn,  for  a  season  held 
the  retributive  sword  against  a  corrupt  priesthood  and  apostate  church.  He  em- 
ployed the  most  inhuman  severity  against  the  Koman  Catholics,  of  whom  many 
suffered  death,  by  his  orders,  in  the  most  barbarous  manner. 

But  it  was  by  the  Crusades,  those  romantic  expeditions  set  on  foot  by  popes  and 
potentates  who  acknowledged  their  supremacy  (avowedly  for  the  purpose  of  rescu- 
ing the  Holy  Sepulchre  from  the  infidels,  as  the  Mohammedans  were  called)  that 
tha  greatest  effusion  of  blood  was  caused.  It  was  near  the  close  of  the  eleventh 
century  when  Peter  the  Hermit  first  preached  the  crusades.  He  painted  the 
sufferings  and  insults  of  the  pilgrims  at  the  hands  of  the  Saracens,  who  had  posses- 
sion of  Jerusalem.  Persons  of  all  ranks  flew  to  arms.  A  spirit  of  enthusiasm  soon 
pervaded  all  Europe ;  and  for  about  two  centuries  these  quixotic  but  sanguinary 
expeditions  disturbed  Europe.  The  loss  of  human  life  was  immense.  It  is  computed 
that  two  millions  of  Europeans  were  buried  in  the  East.  Thus  did  the  sea,  the 
rivers,  and  fountains  of  waters  become  blood. 


230  THE    LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

art,  and  wast,  and  shalt  be,  because   Thou  hast  judged  thus. 

6  For  they  have  shed  the  blood  of  saints  and  prophets,  and  Thou 

7  hast  given  them  blood  to  drink;  for  they  are  worthy.     And 
I  heard   another   out    of   the  altar    say,  Even    so,    Lord    God 

8  Almighty,  true  and  righteous  are  Thy  judgments.      And  the 
fourth1  angel  poured  out  his  vial  upon  the  sun;2  and  power 

9  was  given  unto  him  to  scorch  men  with  fire.     And  men  were 
scorched  with  great  heat^  and  blasphemed  the  name  of  God, 
which  hath  power  over  these  plagues  :  and  they  repented  not 

10  to  give  Him  glory.     And  the  fifth  3  angel  poured  out  his  vial 

The  Fourth  Vial.     The  Inquisition. 

1  St.  Dominic,  as  he  is  called  in  the  Eomish  calendar,  is  said  to  have  commenced 
the  Inquisition.     It  met  with  approval  at  Borne,  and  he  was  appointed  first  in- 
quisitor general.     To  inflict  pain  seems  to  have  been  the  pleasure  of  his  unnatural 
heart,  and  cruelty  was  in  him  an  appetite  and  a  passion.     In  a  single  day  eighty 
persons  were  beheaded,  and  four  hundred  burnt  alive,  by  this  man's  order  and  in 
his  sight.     (See  Art.  on  Inquisition,  Quarterly  Review,  Dec.,  1811,  from  the  pen  of 
the  late  Eobert  Southey,  LL.D.)     The  common  modes  of  torture  to  force  victims 
to  confess,  or  accuse  themselves,  were  dislocation  by  means  of  pulleys,  ropes,  and 
weights  ;  suffocation  by  water ;  and  roasting  the  soles  of  the  feet.     Those  who  were 
condemned  to  death  were  roasted  alive.     The  prisoner  who  was  willing  to  say  that 
he  died  in  the  Catholic  faith  had  the  privilege  of  being  strangled  first.     The  auto 
da  fe  was  a  term  applied  to  the  burning  of  a  large  number  of  heretics,  when  they 
were  led  forth  in  procession  to  the  place  of  martyrdom,  dressed  according  to  the 
fate  that   awaited  them.     (See  "  Inquisition  Unmasked,"  etc.      By  D.  Antonio 
Puigblanch,  from  the  Spanish,  London,  1816 ;  Limborch,  vol.  ii.,  p.  289 ;  Geddes' 
Tracts  against  Popery,  p.  446.) 

2  As  a  star  has  been  in  this  book  interpreted  to  represent  a  ruler,  civil  or  eccle- 
siastical, so  the  sun  represents  a  dynasty  or  form  of  government,  civil  or  eccle- 
siastical.    Under  the  sixth  seal  it  was  interpreted  to  mean  the  Jewish  nation,  and 
under  the  fourth  trumpet  the  commonwealth  or  republic  of  ancient  Kome  ;  here 
it  means  the  spiritual  dynasty  of  papal  Eome. 

The  Fifth  Vial     The  Reformation. 

3  This  vial  obviously  refers  to  the  Keformation.     It  was  poured  out  on  the  seat 
of  the  beast ;    that  is,  it  was  aimed  at  the  supremacy  of  the  pope,  the   grand 
usurpation  on  which  had  been  engrafted,  from  time  to  time,  the  other  corruptions 
of  the  church.     Wickliffe  and  Huss  prepared  the  way  for  such  men  as  Luther, 
Zwingle,  and  Calvin.     On  all  sides,  as  the  time  for  the  pouring  out  of  this  vial 
drew  near,    "  from   above,    and  from  beneath,"   to  use  the    language   of  Merle 
d'Aubigne,  "  was  heard  a  low  murmur,  the  forerunner  of  the  thunderbolt  that  was 
about  to  fall.     Providence,  in  its  slow  course,  had  prepared  all  things ;  and  even 
the  passions  which  God  condemns  were  to  be  turned,  by  His  power,  to  the  fulfil- 
ment of  His  purposes."     The  bolt  feU,  and  the  kingdom  of  the  beast  was  full  of 
darkness  ;  and  they  gnawed  their  tongues  for  pain.     This  refers  to  the  effect  pro- 
duced on  the  pope,  the  bishops,  and  priesthood:  the  malice  and  rage  it  excited 
within  them,  when  those  lion-hearted  men,  the  Reformers,  stood  up  for  the  long 
hidden  truths,  casting  the  fear  of  dungeons  and  gibbets  to  the  winds.    Amazement 


REVELATION    XVI.  231 

upon  the  seat  of  the  beast ;  and  his  kingdom  was  full  of  dark- 

11  ness ;    and  they  gnawed l  their  tongues    for    pain,  and  blas- 
phemed the  God  of  heaven  because  of   their  pains  and  their 

12  sores,  and  repented  not  of  their  deeds.     And  the  sixth  angel 2 

seized  the  minds  of  men  who  had  long  bowed  in  slavish  fear  to  the  supremacy  of 
the  pope.  "  In  the  space  of  a  fortnight,"  after  Luther  had  nailed  to  the  church 
door  in  Wittemberg  the  ninety-five  propositions  against  the  church  of  Eome,  says 
the  same  admired  historian,  "they  had  spread  through  Germany  ;  within  a  month 
they  had  run  through  all  Christendom.  They  shook  the  very  foundations  of  proud 
Eome ;  threatened  with  instant  ruin  the  walls,  gates,  and  pillars  of  the  papacy ; 
stunned  and  terrified  its  champions ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  awakened  from  the 
slumber  of  error  many  thousands  of  men." 

1  As  soon  as  the  pope  and  his  clergy  had,  in  some  measure,  recovered  from  the 
first  shock,  they  began  to   gnash  with  their    teeth  upon  the    bold   and  fearless 
monk.    "  And  they  gnawed  their  tongues  for  pain,"  by  reason  of  the  powerful, 
searching,  and  condemning  truths  which  he  still  fearlessly  published  to  the  world. 
But  they  "  repented  not  of  their  deeds  " ;  for  all  the  essential  errors  of  papacy  remain 
to  this  day :  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  auricular  confession,  worship  of  saints  and 
relics,  purgatory,  the  mass,  transubstantiation,  and  the  supremacy  and  infallibility 
of  the  pope. 

That  the  vials  are  symbolical  of  judgments  is  perfectly  obvious.  But  the 
difficulty  of  regarding  the  Eeformation  as  symbolised  by  one  of  them  is  only 
apparent.  It  will  be  removed  by  considering  that  whilst  it  was  one  of  the  greatest 
blessings  to  the  world,  it  was  a  disaster  to  the  papacy,  a  disaster  more  serious  than 
all  the  sanguinary  wars  waged  against  it  by  the  Saracens  and  Turks.  The  power 
and  authority  which  it  lost  then  it  has  never  been  able  to  regain. 

President  Edwards,  in  his  History  of  Eedemption,  expresses  the  opinion  that  the 
fifth  vial  was  poured  out  at  the  Eeformation.  And  Dr.  Dwight  advocates  the 
same  opinion.  "  That  the  Eeformation  was  an  event,"  is  his  language,  "  per- 
fectly answering  to  this  prophecy,  will,  I  suppose,  not  be  questioned;  as  without 
violence  it  plainly  cannot.  The  seat  of  the  beast  is  literally  his  throne,  and  sym- 
bolically his  power.  Every  one  knows  that  this  great  providential  dispensation  was 
directed  immediately  against  the  power  of  the  Eomish  hierarchy.  The  pontiff,  his 
court,  his  ordinary  and  extraordinary  agents,  his  clergy  universally,  the  secular 
princes,  and  the  immense  body  of  people  under  his  control,  were  all  agitated  by  a 
general  convulsion.  A  large  part  of  the  dominions  over  which  he  held  a  spiritual 
sceptre  revolted  ;  and,  notwithstanding  the  immense  efforts  made  by  the  emperor 
of  Germany  and  his  coadjutors,  for  the  destruction  of  the  Protestant  cause,  was 
finally  rescued  from  their  thraldom,  and  established  in  the  full  possession  of  re- 
ligious liberty."  (Discourse,  delivered  July  23rd,  1812,  on  the  Public  Fast,  in  the 
chapel  of  Yale  College,  p.  9.) 

The  Sixth  Vial. 

2  It  is   evident  we  are  approaching  the  point  which  separates  the  fulfilled  and 
unfulfilled  portions  of  this  book.     From  the  nature  of  the  case,  it  is  impossible  to 
point  out  precisely  where  this  line  falls.     Prophecy  was  not  meant  to  be  history 
written  beforehand,  and  it  even  seems  to  be  necessary  that  some  time  should  elapse 
after  the  accomplishment  of  a  prediction  before  we  are  fully  qualified  to  decide  in 
respect  to  it.     The  word  FUTURE  must  be  written,  as  indicating  that  what  refers  to 
the  past  in  this  book  ceases,  and  that  all  that  follows  it  remains  to  be  fulfilled 
either  between  the  fifth  and  the  sixth,  or  the  sixth  and  the  seventh,  vials. 


232  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

poured  out  his  vial  upon  the  great  river  Euphrates ; l  and  the 

water  thereof  was  dried  up,  that  the  way  of  the  kings 2  of  the 

13  east  might  be  prepared.   And  I  saw  three  unclean  spirits 3  like 

frogs  come  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  dragon,  and  out  of  the 

1  Babylon  being  a  symbol  of  the  Komish .  spiritual  empire,  the   great  river 
Euphrates  must  be  understood  as  symbolical  of  the  wealth,  strength,  and  safety  of 
•that  empire ;  the  drying  up  of  its  waters  as  the  failure  of  these.     Since  the  French 
Revolution,  near  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  that  process  certainly  has 
been  rapidly  going  on. 

2  The  kings  of  the  east  mean  the  destroyers  of  spiritual  Babylon. 

3  The  unclean  spirits  are  symbolical  of  bitter  and  violent  enemies  of  Christianity. 
They  were  like  frogs,  i.e.,  grovelling,  clamorous,  intrusive,  pertinacious  in  their 
modes  of  acting.     They  came  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  dragon,  i.e.,  the  secular 
persecuting  power  of  this  spiritual  empire ;  and  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  beast, 
or  ecclesiastical  persecuting  power  of  the  same  empire ;  and  out  of  the  mouth  of 
the  false  prophet,  i.e.,  were  primary  agents  of  a  corrupt  priesthood.    They  were  the 
spirits  of  demons,  malignant,  hostile  to  human  happiness  and  virtue,  enemies  to 
God.     The  working  of  miracles  is  ascribed  to  these  spirits  of  demons  ;  of  .course 
they  were  not  real  miracles,  they  were  results  brought  about,  as  wonderful  really 
as  miracles.     Have  we    not   in  these  unclean  spirits  a   symbol  of  those  bitter 
enemies  of  Christianity,  the  infidels  who  were  the  leaders  in  the  French  Eevolu- 
tion ?   To  a  great  extent,  this  class  was  composed  of  the  gentry,  nobles,  and  literati 
of  Koman  Catholic  countries.     Many  of  the  clergy  embarked  in  the  design  of  the 
infidels.     Few  persons,  it  is  said,  rendered  their  system  such  important  service  as 
Briennes,  Archbishop   of  Toulouse ;  the   Jesuits  too  were  infidels  in  great  num- 
bers.   They  were  atheistical  and  more  furiously  hostile  to  God  than  any  other  men 
since  the  deluge.     They  thrust  themselves  into  every  office  and  situation  in  which 
mischief  could  be  done  by  them.     "  The  press  groaned  with  their  labours  on  all 
subjects,  handled  in  all  forms  which  promised  to  be  injurious  to  Christianity. 
From  the  magnificent  encyclopaedia  down  to  the  farthing  pamphlet,  the  handbill 
and  the  song,  infidelity  descended  in  a  regular  progress,  satisfied  if  it  could  only 
oppose  God  and  destroy  mankind."     The  world  stood  aghast  at  then-  designs  and 
their  efforts.    The  emperors  of  Austria,  France,  and  Russia,  princes  of  the  house  of 
Bourbon,  the  king  of  Prussia,  several  of  the  British  princes,  two  kings  of  Sweden, 
the  various  reigning  princes  of  Germany  and  Italy  were  all  enlisted  with  those 
abandoned  men.     The  emperor  of  Persia,  moreover,  was  drawn  to  embark  in  their 
great  design.     They  seduced  Tippoo  Saib  to  his  ruin,  and  embroiled  the  Mahrattas 
and  Sikhs,  and  the  Spanish  colonies  on  the  American  continent,  in  the  same  con- 
test.    The  miseries  which  spread  through  the  French  kingdom  during  "the  reign 
of  terror,"  or  the  domination  of  the  infidels,  extended  over  surrounding  countries. 
Revolutionary  leaders  seized  on  the  property  of  princes,  nobles,  and  the  clergy,  as 
their  lawful  prey.     More  than  £200,000,000  are  supposed  to  have  fallen  into  their 
hands  by  one  vast  act  of  confiscation.     The  life,  liberty,  and  property  of  every 
bordering  nation  were  consumed.     Italy,  Sardinia,  Switzerland,  Belgium,  Batavia, 
Germany,  Prussia,  Austria,  bowed  successively  to  the  French  arms.     Paris  was  a 
pandemonium,  where  every  species  of  vice,  crime,  and  iniquity  was  perpetrated, 
not  only  with  impunity,  but  with  the  applause  of  its  desperate  populace  ;  for  three 
days  it  was  searched  before  a  copy  of  the  sacred  Scriptures  could  be  found.     That 
remarkable  man,  Napoleon  Buonaparte,  with  Europe  prostrate  at  his  feet,  and  con- 
trolling the  destinies  of  80,000,000,  caused  the  pope,  Pius  VII.,  to  be  arrested  and 
confined  as  a  prisoner,  first  at  Savona,  and  afterwards  at  Fontainebleau. 


EEVELATION    XVI.  233 

mouth  of  the  beast,  and  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  false  prophet. 

14  For  they  are  the  spirits  of  devils,  working  miracles,  which  go 
forth  unto  the  kings  of  the  earth  and  of  the  whole  world,  to 
gather  them  to  the  battle  of  that  great  day  of  God  Almighty. 

15  Behold,  I  come  as  a  thief.     Blessed  is  he  that  watcheth,  and 
keepeth  his  garments,  lest  he  walk  naked,  and  they  see  his 

16  shame.     And  He  gathered  them  together  into  a  place  called 
in  the  Hebrew  tongue  Armageddon.1 

1  The  hill  of  Megiddo.  Here  the  Israelites  gained  a  signal  victory  over  the 
Canaanitish  kings  (Jud.  v.  19).  John,  writing  in  Greek,  by  the  expression 
"called  in  the  Hebrew  tongue"  seems  to  refer  his  readers  back  to  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures  for  the  significance  of  this  name.  The  battle  of  Armageddon  is  simply  a 
conflict  between  the  Lord's  servants  and  His  allied  foes.  The  European  war,  which 
began  in  1792,  is  without  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  man,  whether  we  regard  the 
number  of  nations  engaged,  the  number  of  armies  in  the  field,  the  number  of 
battles,  the  multitude  of  slain,  the  destruction  of  cities,  the  depopulation  of 
countries,  or  the  immense  ruin  and  devastation  brought  on  the  world.  On  the 
testimony  of  a  French  officer,  3,000,000  of  Frenchmen  perished  within  the  first 
four  or  five  years  of  the  Eevolution.  Fields  and  vineyards  had  to  be  cultivated  by 
women  and  old  men.  It  will  be  no  excessive  estimate  if  we  suppose  10,000,000  to 
have  perished  in  the  wars  occasioned  by  the  French  Eevolution.  Thus  the  water 
of  the  great  river  Euphrates  began  to  be  dried  up.  A  great  change  is  still  in 
process  among  the  nations  of  Europe  by  which  those  known  as  Eoman  Catholic 
have  lost  greatly  in  influence,  and  the  Protestant  interest  has  gained  in  equal  if 
not  greater  proportion.  Spain  long  since  lost  that  potency  by  which,  as  her 
chief  agent,  she  executed  the  behests  of  Eome.  When  the  so  called  "  invincible 
armada  "  threatened  England,  she  could  boast  of  over  40,000,000  inhabitants  ;  she 
has  now  only  14,000,000.  The  British  islands  had  at  that  time  10,800,000  ;  they 
have  now  over  30,000,000.  Austria  has  been  humiliated,  first  in  the  conflict  with 
Louis  Napoleon  and  Victor  Emmanuel,  and  then  with  Prussia,  and  has  sunk  from 
its  rank  as  a  firstrate  power.  And  now  France,  the  avowed  champion  of  the  ponti- 
ficate for  the  last  twenty  years,  instead  of  having  bayonets  to  spare  to  defend  a 
foreign  throne,  has  not  found  enough  for  the  protection  of  its  own.  Solferino, 
Sadowa,  and  Sedan,  are  names  which  will  long  have  a  peculiar  significance  in  the 
history  of  our  times,  as  they  will  be  seen  to  sustain  a  peculiar  relation  to  the 
recent  overthrow  of  the  temporal  power.  Not  only  are  the  remains  of  the  "  fourth 
kingdom"  (Dan.  ii.  40-45),  as  perpetuated  even  to  our  day  by  the  Eoman 
hierarchy,  passing  rapidly  away ;  but  it  is  most  -remarkable  that,  simultaneously 
with  this  great  overturn,  Csesarism  as  it  is  called,  or  the  empire  whose  ruler  has 
upheld  the  pope  in  Eome  during  the  last  twenty  years,  and  by  the  French  naval, 
military,  and  political  power,  supported  papal  propagandism  in  the  South  Seas, 
China,  and  elsewhere,  has  fallen,  certainly  beyond  all  hope  of  ever  gaining  its 
former  power  and  prestige  in  the  world.  It  was  the  highest  ambition  of  Louis 
Napoleon  to  be  viewed  as  sustaining  the  same  relation  to  the  great  Napoleon  which 
Augustus  did  to  the  great  Caesar ;  and  not  merely  by  natural  relationship,  but  in 
the  founding  of  a  great  empire.  He  was  seeking  in  his  Life  of  Julius  Caesar  to 
prepare  the  way  for  that  plebiscite  by  which  he  hoped  to  win,  in  the  vote  of  the 
masses,  a  power  to  override  the  popular  will,  as  expressed  in  regular  representative 
assemblies.  But  this  centralization  of  irresponsible  power  in  one  man  has  under- 
gone a  sudden  and  hopeless  collapse  in  France,  simultaneously  with  the  collapse 


234  THE   LIFE    A.ND   WRITINGS   OP    ST.  JOHN. 

The  Seventh  Vial :  its  Symbols,  of  Destruction. 

[Ver.  17-21. 

17  And  the  seventh 1  angel  poured  out  his  vial  into  the  air ;  and 
there  came  a  great  voice  out  of  the  temple  of  heaven,  from  the 

18  throne,  saying,  It  is  done.  And  there  were  voices,  and  thunders, 
and  lightnings ;  and  there  was  a  great  earthquake,  such  as  was 
not  since  men  were  upon  the  earth,  so  mighty  an  earthquake 

19  and  so  great.    And  the  great  city  was  divided  into  three  parts, 
and  the  cities  of  the  nations  fell :  and  great  Babylon  came  in 
remembrance  before  God,  to  give  unto  her  the  cup  of  the  wine 

20  of  the  fierceness  of  His  wrath.     And  every  island  fled  away, 

21  and  the  mountains  were  not  found.     And  there  fell  upon  men 
a  great  hail  out  of  heaven,  every  stone  about  the  weight  of  a 
talent :  and  men  blasphemed  God  because  of  the  plague  of  the 
hail ; 2  for  the  plague  thereof  was  exceeding  great. 

The  Seventh   Vial  continued.5     The  Papacy  under  the  Symbol  of 

a  Woman  upon  a  Scarlet  Coloured  Beast. 

XVII.]  [Yer.  1-18. 

And  there  came  one  of  the  seven  angels  which  had  the  seven 

vials,  and  talked  with  me,  saying  unto  me,  Come  hither ;  I  will 

show  unto  thee  the  judgment  of  the  great  whore  that  sitteth 

2   upon  many  waters  :  with  whom  the  kings  of  the  earth  have 

committed  fornication,4  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  have 

of  the  priestly  dominion  in  Italy.  The  collapse  followed  immediately  upon  the 
plebiscite,  that  mockery  of  the  people,  in  an  appeal  to  their  vote,  in  the  one 
instance ;  and  in  the  other,  upon  the  ascription  of  a  Divine  attribute  to  a  mere 
mortal,  that  mockery  of  God  in  the  decree  of  infallibility. 

1  This  prediction  completes  the  overthrow  of  spiritual  Babylon.     The  vial  will 
be  poured  out  into  the  air,  and  a  great  voice  will  be  heard  from  the  throne  of  God, 
— "  IT  is  DONE." 

2  Putting  conjecture  entirely  aside  as  to  the  import  of  the  symbols  here  em- 
ployed, viz.,  the  great  earthquake,  dividing  the  city  into  three  parts,  the  flight  of 
islands  and  mountains  and  the  great  hail,  we  leave  them  to  be  made  plain  by 
coming  events. 

3  In  chapter  x-vii.,  together  with  xviii.  and  xix.,  we  have  a  minute  account  of  the 
abominations  and  impostures  of  papal  Rome,  and  of  the  final  overthrow  of  that 
antichristian  power.      Having  had  the  denouement  given  in  connection  with  the 
act  of  pouring  out  the  last  vial,  to  make  the  action  of  the  piece  correspond  with  the 
preceding  vials,  we  may  regard   what  is  contained  in  these  three  chapters   as 
included  under  the  seventh  vial,  i.e.,  the  seventh  vial  as  extending  to  the  end  of 
chapter  xix. 

4  This  word  in  the  figurative  sense  of  Scripture  means  idolatry.    Nearly  all  com- 
mentators, Romish  as  well  as  Protestant,  agree  that  Rome  is  meant.    Bossuet,  in 


EEVELATION   XVII.  235 

3  been  drunk  with  the  wine  of  her  fornication.  So  he  carried  me 
away  in  the  spirit  into  the  wilderness  :  and  I  saw  a  woman  sit 
upon  a  scarlet1  coloured  beast,  full  of  names  of  blasphemy, 

his  commentary,  and  other  Eomanists,  apply  all  this  part  of  the  Apocalypse  to 
heathen  Eome.  Several  of  the  German  critics  do  the  same.  Professors  Lee  of 
Oxford,  Stuart  of  Andover,  and  Cowles  of  Oberlin,  among  English  interpreters, 
consider  Babylon  as  designating  pagan  Eome,  both  in  its  political  and  religious 
character.  The  leading  reason  in  support  of  this  opinion  is  that,  as  it  was  the  great 
object  of  this  book  to  console  the  persecuted  at  the  time  it  was  written,  it  would 
have  been  foreign  to  this  design  to  predict  distant  times,  and  the  overthrow  of 
future  persecutors.  But  how,  we  ask,  does  it  militate  against  the  design  of  this  book 
that  John  should  proceed,  after  having  foretold  the  destruction  of  the  Jewish  and 
pagan  persecuting  powers,  to  foretell  that  a  similar  destruction  would  befall  every 
other  persecuting  power  that  might  rise  against  the  Church  ?  At  least  one  half  of 
the  Apocalypse  is  devoted  to  predicting  the  overthrow  of  the  enemies  of  the 
Christian  religion,  who  were  active  at  the  time  it  was  written  ;  how  therefore  it  can 
be  pronounced  incongruous  or  inapposite  to  regard  the  residue  of  the  book  as  re- 
lating to  the  destruction  of  similar  enemies  whom  the  God  of  prophecy  must  have 
foreseen  in  the  future,  it  is  hard  to  understand  ?  And  it  is  equally  hard  to  understand 
why  the  whole  of  an  inspired  book  of  Scripture  should  be  given  for  the  consolation 
of  believers  in  a  single  generation  and  age,  and  no  specific  prediction  to  the  same  end, 
in  the  case  of  Christians  who  were  to  suffer  from  persecutions  equally  sanguinary. 
Dr.  Cowles  says  that  "  as  surely  as  this  prophecy  makes  the  first  beast  and  the 
second  contemporaneous  and  co-working,  and  as  surely  as  history  locates  the  per- 
secuting activities  of  the  seven  heads  of  pagan  Eome  on  the  one  hand  and  of  papal 
Eome  on  the  other,  one  thousand  years  asunder,  so  surely  do  the  stubborn  facts 
of  history  rule  out  as  absurd  and  impossible  the  theory  that  this  second  beast  is 
papal  Eome."  But  he  fails  to  give  the  evidence  that  "  this  prophecy  makes  the 
first  beast  and  the  second  contemporaneous."  Instead  of  this  it  does  just  the 
contrary.  It  represents  the  first  beast  as  slain  and  as  having  of  course  passed 
away,  and  as  brought  to  life  again  in  the  second.  "  He  exercises  all  the  power  of 
the  first  beast ;"  "  and  causeth  the  earth  and  them  that  dwell  therein  to  worship 
the  first  beast  whose  deadly  wound  was  healed."  "  And  he  had  power  to  give  life 
unto  the  image  of  the  beast  [a  dead  thing  of  the  past],  that  the  image  of  the  beast 
should  both  speak,  and  cause  that  as  many  as  would  not  worship  the  image  of  the 
beast  should  be  killed."  Pagan  Eome,  it  is  well  known,  was  never  at  any  pains  to 
disseminate  her  false  systems  of  religion.  It  might,  on  the  contrary,  with  more 
truth  be  said  that  she  imported  the  superstitions  and  idolatry  of  other  nations, 
than  that  she  spread  her  own  in  other  countries.  Her  great  ambition  was  military 
conquest ;  conquered  nations  she  permitted  to  retain  their  forms  of  religion,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  Jews.  But  papal  Eome  has  made  the  kings  and  inhabitants  of 
the  earth  drunk  with  the  wine  of  her  fornication ;  she  has  deluded  them  with  her 
splendid  and  fascinating  ritual,  borrowed,  as  already  shown,  in  its  main  features 
from  the  idolatry  of  ancient  Eome.  Kings  and  princes  have  been  filled  with  a 
strange  infatuation  by  partaking  of  the  abominations  which  the  woman  mingles  in 
her  "  golden  cup." 

1  In  sculpture  and  painting  cities  and  nations  are  often  represented  by  the  figure 
of  a  woman.  The  symbol  of  the  American  republic  is  that  of  a  female  figure.  The 
symbol  of  ancient  Eome,  as  represented  on  her  coin,  was  a  woman  seated  on  a  lion. 
By  the  woman  then  we  understand  papal  Eome.  In  chapter  xii.  1,  under  the 
figure  of  a  woman  clothed  with  the  sun,  we  have  a  representation  of  the  true  Church 


236  THE    LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

4  having   seven   heads   and   ten  horns.     And   the    woman  was 
arrayed  l  in  purple  and  scarlet  colour,  and  decked  with  gold 
and  precious  stones  and  pearls,  having  a  golden  cup  in  her 
hand  full  of  abominations  and  filthiness  of  her  fornication  : 

5  and   upon   her   forehead   was   a   name   written,  MYSTERY,2 

of  Christ ;  therefore  we  understand  by  a  female  arrayed  in  gay,  meretricious  orna- 
ments, a  fallen  or  apostate  church.  There  is  nothing  in  such  a  figure  or  symbol 
appropriate  to  a  civil  state  like  that  of  ancient  Eome.  By  the  scarlet  coloured 
beast  we  understand  the  temporal  power  of  papal  Home.  "  Having  seven  heads 
and  ten  horns" :  i.e.,  the  woman  is  represented  as  seated  on  a  beast,  which  symbol- 
ised a  supreme  majesty  which  succeeded  to  the  widespread  dominion  of  the  old 
empire  of  Eome,  and  was  facilitated  in  its  usurpations  by  an  alliance  with  the  state. 

1  Scarlet,  it  is  well  known,  has  been  the  colour  of  the  pontifical  robes  of  popes 
and  cardinals.     "  Decked  with  gold  and  precious  stones  and  pearls  ":  in  the  splen- 
dour and  magnificence  of  her  vestments  and  ornaments  of  all  kinds  papal  Eome 
has  far  excelled  pagan.  Like  a  fallen  woman  who  prides  herself  on  her  finery,  this 
costly  and  gaudy  array  was  formerly  the  boast  of  papists.     Bishop  Newton  refers 
to  a  Eomish  author,  Alexander  Donatus,  and  the  same  is  mentioned  by  Vitringa, 
who  drew  a  comparison  between  ancient   and  modern  Eome,  and  asserted  the 
superiority  of  the  latter  in  pomp  and  splendour.     The  whole  of   Bishop  Newton's 
dissertation  on  this  part  of  the  Apocalypse  is  exceedingly  able  and  satisfactory.   The 
mitre  of  one  of  the  popes,  Paul  II.,  was  adorned  with  diamonds,  sapphires-,  eme- 
ralds, chrysolites,  jaspers  and  all  manner  of  precious  stones.  Addison,  in  his  travels, 
speaking  of  the  vast  extent  in  the  number,  rarity,  and  richness  of  the  jewels  with 
which  one  of  the  Eomish  images  was  honoured,  says  that  the  sight  as  much  sur- 
passed his  expectation  as  other  sights  had  generally  fallen  short  of  it.     Silver  can 
scarce  find  an  admission,  gold  itself  looked  but  poor  among  such  an  incredible 
number  of  precious  stones. 

2  It  has  been  asserted  by  some  respectable  writers  that,  prior  to  the  Eeformation, 
the  very  word  MYSTERY  was  inscribed  in  golden  letters  on  the  front  of  the  pope's 
mitre.     But,  as  it  has  been  controverted  by  writers  on  the  other  side,  be  that  as  it 
may,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  ancient  mitres  had  on  them  emblematic  inscrip- 
tions.   MYSTERY  (To  pvaT-fipLov  TTJS  avo/j-ias)  was  the  title  under  which  Paul  foretold  the 
Eoman  apostasy  in  2  Thess.  ii.  7.     Papal  Eome  affects  vaunting,  high  sounding 
names,  designed  to  secure  a  superstitious  reverence.     The  mass,  purgatory,  indul- 
gences, penances,  which  she  has  invented,  sitting  in  the  temple  of  God  and  affect- 
ing Divine  titles,  make  her  "  the  mother  of  harlots  and  abominations  of  the  earth." 
It  was  certainly  believed  by  writers  devoted  to  the  papacy  and  writing  long  before 
the  Eeformation,  that  a  woman,  who  had  disguised  herself  and  concealed  her  sex, 
was  elevated  to  the  papacy  in  the  ninth  century,  on  the  death  of  Leo  IV.,  under 
the  title  of  John  VIII.    "  That  just  here,  at  this  epoch  of  history  which  corresponds 
with  the  great  changes  entailed  upon  the  West  by  the  career  of  Charlemagne  and 
the  successors  to  his  empire,  and  at  which  the  Church  in  Eome  reached  a  depth  of 
consummate  apostasy  from  Christ,  this  figure  of  a  harlot  should  be  fixed  upon  the 
papal  chair  by  its  own  historians  is  a  noteworthy  point."     (See  Bishop  Cleveland 
Coxe  on  Pope  Joan,  N.  Y.  Obs.,  Dec.  12,  1872.)     The  bishop  thus  closes  his  pithy 
article  :  "  If  you  ever  find  a  Jesuit  disposed  to  be  impudent,  there  is  one  way  to 
silence  him  which  seldom   fails  of  success.    Eemind  him   of  the  great  cloud  of 
Eomish  witnesses  who  have  believed  in  Pope  Joan  ;  and  challenge  him  to  produce 
a  tenth  part  of  such  evidence  as  confirms  her  historic  character,  in  behalf  of  his 
fable  about  St.  Peter's  residence  and  pontificate  in  Eome." 


REVELATION    XVII.  237 

BABYLON  THE  GREAT,  THE  MOTHER  OF  HARLOTS 

6  AND  ABOMINATIONS  OF  THE  EARTH.     And  I  saw  the 
woman  drunken  l  with  the  blood  of  the  saints,  and  with  the 
blood  of  the  martyrs  of  Jesus  :  and  when  I  saw  her,  I  wondered 

7  with  great  admiration.     And  the  angel  said  unto  me,  Where- 
fore didst  thou  marvel  ?    I  will  tell 2  thee  the  mystery  of  the 
woman,   and  of  the  beast  that   carrieth  her,  which  hath  the 

8  seven  heads  and  ten  horns.     The  beast  that  thou  sawest  was, 
and  is  not :  and  shall  ascend  out  of  the  bottomless  pit,  and  go 
into  perdition  :   and  they  that  dwell  on  the  earth  shall  wonder, 
whose  names  were  not  written  in  the  book  of  life  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world,  when  they  behold  the  beast  that  was, 

9  and  is  not,  and  yet  is.     And  here  is  the  mind  which  hath 
wisdom.     The  seven  heads  are  seven  mountains,  on  which  the 

10  woman  sitteth.     And  there  are  seven  kings  :  five  are  fallen, 
and    one   is,   and   the  other  is   not  yet   come;   and  when  he 

11  cometh,  he   must  continue   a   short   space.      And   the  beast 
that  was,  and  is  not,  even  he  is  the  eighth,  and  is  of  the  seven, 

12  and  goeth  into  perdition.      And  the  ten  horns  which  thou 
sawest  are  ten  3  kings,  which  have  received  no  kingdom  as  yet ; 

13 but  receive  power  as  kings  one  hour4  with  the  beast.     These 
have  one  mind,  and  shall  give  their  power  and  strength  unto 

1  In  the  war  which  papal  Home  carried  on  against  the  Albigenses  and  Waldenses 
it  is  said  1,000,000  of  the  pious  Christians  perished.   In  little  more  than  thirty  years 
after  the  institution  of  the  order  of  the  Jesuits  there  were  slain  900,000  Christians. 
In  the  Netherlands,  during  a  few  years,  36,000  perished  by  the  hands  of  the  ex- 
ecutioner.    The  learned  and  impartial  Niebuhr  says  "  that  the  Diocletian  persecu- 
tion was  a  mere  shadow  as  compared  with  the  persecution  of  the  Protestants  in 
the  Netherlands   by  the  Duke  of  Alva,  in  the   service  of    Spanish  bigotry  and 
despotism." 

2  The  angel,  in  explaining  to  John  the  mystery  of  the  beast  that  carried  the 
woman,  clearly  identifies  it  with  the  beast  that  came  from  the  sea,  which,  as  we 
have  shown,  must  be  understood  as  a  symbol  of  imperial  Eome.     It  was  the  con- 
tinuance and  support  she  derived  from  imperial  Eome,  by  which  papal  Home  at 
length  came  to  exercise  a  similar,  or  rather  more  mighty  and  extended,  power  over 
the  nations.   When  the  persecutions  of  pagan  Eome  ceased  the  old  root  did  not  die  ; 
a  thrifty  shoot  had  already  sprung  up,  which  grew  rapidly  and  soon  overtopped  the 
old,  decayed  trunk,  casting  even  a  wider  and  more  fearful  shadow  over  the  nations 
of  the  earth. 

3  The  ten  horns  represent  the  divisions,  or  kingdoms,  into  which  the  Eoman 
empire  was  divided  ;  they  were  tributary  and  constituent  parts  of  that  empire. 

4  The  words  translated  "  one  hour,"  piav  tipav,  might  have  been  rendered,  accord- 
ing to  Vitringa,  "at  one  and  the  same  time,  or  for  the  same  length  of  time"; 
then  the  meaning  would  be  that  although  these  kingdoms,  at  the  time  of  the 
vision,  had  no  distinct  existence,   they  formed  constituent  parts  of  the  Eoman 


2-38  THE    LIFE    AND   WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

14  the  beast.  These  shall  make  war  with  the  Lamb,  and  the  Lamb 
shall  overcome  them :  for  He  is  Lord  of  lords,  and  King   of 
kings :  and  they  that  are  with  Him  are  called,  and  chosen,  and 

15  faithful.      And  he   saith  unto  me,    The  waters l   which  thou 
sawest,  where  the  whore  sitteth,  are  peoples,  and  multitudes, 

16  and  nations,  and  tongues.  And  the  ten  horns  which  thou  sawest 
upon  the  beast,  these  shall  hate 2  the  whore,  and  shall  make 
her  desolate  and  naked,  and  shall  eat  her  flesh,  and  burn  her 

17  with  fire.     For  God  hath  put  in  their  hearts  to  fulfil  His  will, 
and  to  agree,  and  give  their  kingdom  unto  the  beast,  until  the 

18  words  of  God  shall  be  fulfilled.     And  the  woman  which  thou 
sawest  is  that  great  city,  which  reigneth  over  the  kings  of  the 
earth. 


Fall  of  Babylon  for  her  Spiritual  Whoredom. 

XVIII.]  [Ver.  1-8. 

1  And  after  these  things  I  saw  another  angel  come  down  from 
heaven,  having  great  power ;  and  the  earth  was  lightened  with 

2  his  glory.    And  he  cried  mightily  with  a  strong  voice,  saying, 
Babylon3  the  great  is  fallen,  is  fallen,  and  is  become  the  habita- 

empire.  All  the  provinces  gave  their  power  to  the  beast,  i.e.  the  imperial  magistracy 
of  Eome ;  especially  there  was  but  one  mind  among  them  in  executing  the  edicts  of 
the  emperors  in  the  persecution  of  Christians.  The  same  was  true  after  the 
empire  became  papal ;  the  various  kingdoms  which  acknowledged  the  supremacy 
of  the  pope,  however  they  might  have  differed  in  other  respects,  agreed  perfectly  in 
contributing  their  forces  and  riches  to  execute  the  decretals  of  the  pope. 

1  This  denotes  the  great  extent  and  numerical  strength  of  the  papal  dominion. 
Previous  to  the  Moslem  conquests  it  was  spread  over  all  the  principal   known 
nations  of  the  earth. 

2  Is  it  not  true  that  some  earnest  has  already  been  given  of  the  turning  of  the 
kingdoms  which  once  acknowledged  the  supremacy  of  the  pope  in  revolt  against  his 
temporal  power?      Protestant  England  once   gave  her  power  to  the  pope,  and 
Switzerland  was  one  of   the  battle  fields  of  the  Keformation.     What  a  mighty 
change  has  taken  place  in  France :    that  country,  the  sovereigns  of  which  did  so 
much  to  establish  (and  up  to  a  very  late  day  to  maintain)  the  pope  in  his  usurpa- 
tions, both  ecclesiastical  and  political!     Where  is  the  German  empire,  the  chief 
pillar  of  the  papacy  at  the  period  of  its  greatest  strength,  in  which  at  the  present 
moment  the  most  formidable  resistance  appears,  directly  against  the  decree  of  in- 
fallibility and  indirectly  against  the  temporal  power  ?    The  time  seems  to  be  rapidly 
approaching  when  popish  countries  which  have  sustained  and  perpetuated  the 
power  of  the  beast  will  desert  and  turn  against  that  power.     "Behold,  I  come 
quickly." 

3  Here  the  cry  of  the  angel  (chap.  xiv.  8)  is  resumed.     The  fall  of  Babylon  is 
foretold,  together  with  the  crimes  which   deserved  the  punishment.      The  great 


REVELATION    XVIII.  239 

tion  of  devils,  and  the  hold  of  every  foul  spirit,  and  a  cage  of 

3  every  unclean  and  hateful  bird.     For  all  nations  have  drunk  of 
the  wine  of  the  wrath  of  her  fornication,  and  the  kings  of  the 
earth  have  committed  fornication  with  her,  and  the  merchants 
of  the  earth  are  waxed  rich  through  the  abundance  of  her  deli- 

4  cacies.     And  I  heard  another  voice1  from  heaven,  saying,  Come 
out  of  her,  My  people,  that  ye  be  not  partakers  of  her  sins,  and 

5  that  ye  receive  not  of  her  plagues.      For  her  sins  have  reached 

6  unto  heaven,  and  God  hath  remembered  her  iniquities.    Reward 
her  even  as  she  rewarded  you,  and  double  unto  her  double 
according  to  her  works  :  in  the  cup  which  she  hath  filled,  fill  to 

7  her  double.      How  much  she  hath  glorified  herself,  and  lived 
deliciously,  so  much  torment  and  sorrow  give  her :    for  she 
saith  in  her  heart,  I  sit  a  queen,  and  am  no  widow,  and  shall 

8  see  no  sorrow.     Therefore  shall  her  plagues  come  in  one  day, 
death,   and  mourning,  and  famine  ;    and  she  shall  be  utterly 
burned  with  fire  :    for  strong  is  the  Lord  God  who   judgeth 
her. 

crime  mentioned  against  Babylon,  for  which  she  is  visited  with  utter  desolation,  is 
her  fornication,  i.e.  idolatry.  Some  of  the  theologians  of  the  Latin  Church  have 
been  sufficiently  bold  to  teach  that  the  Church  of  Home  was  to  fall  away,  and  the 
papacy,  or  some  individual  pontiff,  was  to  become  the  antichrist  spoken  of  in 
Scripture.  The  abbot  Joachim,  a  Franciscan,  who  flourished  near  the  end  of  the 
twelfth  century,  and  his  followers,  called  "  Spirituales,"  denounced  the  Church  of 
Eome  as  the  mystical  Babylon  of  the  Apocalypse.  This  was  done  also  with  great 
boldness  by  John  Peter,  of  Oliva,  who  died  near  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century. 
His  works  were  condemned  as  "blasphemous  and  heretical."  He  says:  "the 
woman  here  stands  for  the  people  and  empire  of  Eome,  both  as  she  existed 
formerly  in  the  state  of  paganism,  and  has  since  existed,  holding  the  faith  of 
Christ,  though  by  many  crimes  committing  harlotry  with  this  world.  And  there- 
fore she  is  called  a  great  harlot  for  departing  from  the  faithful  worship,"  etc.  (See 
Maitlaud,  The  Apos.  School  of  Proph.  Interp.,  p.  340.)  "Not  only  the  poets 
Dante  and  Petrarch  denounced  the  corruptions  of  the  Church  of  Kome,  but  down 
to  the  time  of  the  Eeformation  that  church  was  held  up  by  a  succession  of  theo- 
logians, or  ecclesiastics,  as  the  Babylon  of  the  Apocalypse  which  was  to  be  over- 
thrown and  rendered  desolate."  (Systematic  Theology,  Charles  Hodge,  D.D.,  vol. 
iii.,  pp.  831,  832.)  Dr.  Hodge  ably  argues  that  the  harlot  spoken  of  in  chapters 
xvii.  and  xviii.  is  to  be  understood  of  the  apostate  church.  (See  ut  supra,  pp.  825- 
830.) 

1  The  apostle  records  what  he  heard  another  voice  from  heaven  say.  It  com- 
manded the  people  of  God  to  come  out  of  Babylon,  that  they  might  not  be  par- 
takers of  he  sins  and  her  plagues.  The  voice  then  describes  the  heinousness  of 
her  sins  in  the  sight  of  heaven,  and  declares  that  her  punishment  should  be  in 
proportion  to  her  crimes.  Some  insist  upon  understanding  the  burning  with  fire 
literally ;  but  this  is  unnecessary,  it  is  enough  to  understand  it  as  strongly  figurative 
of  complete  destruction. 


240  THE    LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

Lamentations  and  Rejoicings  over  the  Fall  of  the  Papacy. 

[Yer.  9-24. 

And  the  kings  of  the  earth,  who  have  committed  fornication 
and  lived  deliciously  with  her,  shall  bewail  her,  and  lament  x 
for  her,  when  they  shall  see  the  smoke  of  her  burning^ 

10  standing  afar  off  for  the  fear  of  her   torment,  saying,   Alas, 
alas,  that  great  city  Babylon,  that  mighty  city  !  for  in  one 

11  hour  is  thy  judgment  come.     And  the  merchants  of  the  earth 
shall   weep    and   mourn   over  her;  for   no    man   buyeth   their 

12  merchandise  any  more  :  the  merchandise  of  gold,  and  silver, 
and  precious  stones,  and  of  pearls,  and  fine  linen,  and  purple, 
and  silk,  and  scarlet,  and   all  thyine  2  wood,  and    all  manner 
vessels  of  ivory,  and  all  manner  vessels  of  most  precious  wood, 

13  and   of    brass,    and    iron,    and   marble,    and    cinnamon,  and 
odours,  and  ointments,  and  frankincense,  and  wine,   and  oil, 
and  fine  flour,  and  wheat,  and  beasts,  and  sheep,  and  horses, 

14  and  chariots,  and  slaves,  and  souls3  of  men.   And  the  fruits  that 
thy  soul  lusted  after  are  departed  from  thee,  and  all  things 
which  were  dainty  and  goodly  are  departed    from  thee,  and 

15  thou  shalt  find  them  no  more  at  all.     The  merchants  of  these 
things,  which  were  made  rich  by  her,  shall  stand  afar  off  for 

1  The  kings  of  the  earth  who  have  participated  in  her  spiritual  adultery,  and  the 
merchants  of  the  earth  who  have  been  aggrandised  by  her  superstitions  and  impos- 
tures, will  join  in  the  lamentation  over  her.     Next,  the  mariners  who  had  been 
enriched  by  reason  of  her  costliness  are  represented  as  bewailing  her.     The  Eoman 
Catholic  countries  of  Europe,  Spain,  Portugal,  France,  and  the  far  famed  Venice, 
have  stood  foremost  in  commerce,  which  consisted  in  no  small  degree  in  the  trans- 
portation of  costly  articles  to  be  used  in  ecclesiastical  buildings,  furniture,  equipage, 
processions,  dress,  etc.,  gathered  from  all  climes.      We  have  no  difficulty  what- 
ever with  the  prominent  part  commerce  takes  in  this  lament,  understanding  it  as 
made  over  papal  and  not  pagan  Home.      So  much  of  the  maritime  as  is  here  intro- 
duced is  altogether  natural,  if  we  understand  by  Babylon  the  Eomish  Church  ;  but 
it  is  out  of  place  and  unmeaning  if  we  understand  the  Eoman  empire  in  the  time 
of  Nero. 

2  Thyine  wood,  probably  the  Callitris   quadrivalvis,  from  the  coast  of  Africa, 
known  to  the  Eomans  as  citronwood. 

3  The  enumeration  in  this  strikingly  descriptive  catalogue  ends  with  the  "  souls 
of  men."     That  the  papal  Church  has  been  guilty  of  this   enormous   crime   of 
merchandise  in  the  souls  of  men  is  sufficiently  proved  by  her  doctrines  of  purgatory, 
forgiveness  of  sins,  and  indulgences,  by  which  her  immense  revenues  have  been 
supplied.     St.  Peter's  at  Eome,  which  continues  to  be  the  wonder  of  the  world,  was 
erected  by  the  silver  and  gold  procured  by  the  sale  of  indulgences,  i.e.,  by  selling 
to  men  the  privilege  of  sinning.     It  was  this  traffic  as  superintended  by  the  cele- 
brated Tetzel  in  Germany  which,  more  than  anything  else,  served  to  arouse  the 
intrepid  spirit  of  Martin  Luther. 


r 


REVELATION    XIX.  241 

16  the  fear  of  her  torment,  weeping   and  wailing,  and   saying, 
Alas,  alas,  that  great  city,  that  was  clothed  in  fine  linen,  and 
purple,  and  scarlet,  and  decked  with  gold,  and  precious  stones, 

17  and  pearls !    For  in  one  hour  so  great  riches  is  come  to  nought. 
And  every  shipmaster,  and   all  the  company   in   ships,   and 

18  sailors,  and  as  many  as  trade  by  sea,  stood  afar  off,  and  cried 
when  they  saw  the  smoke  of  her  burning,  saying,  What  city 

19  is  like  unto  this  great  city  !   And  they  cast  dust  on  their  heads, 
and  cried,  weeping  and  wailing,  saying,  Alas,  alas,  that  great 
city,  wherein  were  made  rich  all  that  had  ships  in  the  sea  by 
reason  of  her  costliness  !  for  in  one  hour  is  she  made  desolate. 

20  Rejoice  l  over  her,  thou  heaven,  and  ye  holy  apostles  and  pro- 

21  phets  ;  for  God  hath  avenged  you  on  her.    And  a  mighty  angel 
took  up  a  stone  like  a  great  millstone,2  and  cast  it  into  the  sea, 
saying,   Thus  with  violence  shall  that  great  city  Babylon  be 

22  thrown  down,  and  shall  be  found  no  more  at  all.     And  the 
voice  of  harpers,  and  musicians,  and  of  pipers,  and  trumpeters, 
shall  be  heard  no  more  at  all  in  thee ;  and  no  craftsman,  of 
whatsoever  craft  lie  be,  shall  be  found  any  more  in  thee ;  and 
the  sound  of  a  millstone  shall  be  heard  no  more  at  all  in  thee ; 

23  and  the  light  of  a  candle  shall  shine  no  more  at  all  in  thee ; 
and  the  voice  of  the  bridegroom  and  of  the  bride  shall  be  heard 
no  more  at  all  in  thee  :  for  thy  merchants  were  the  great  men 
of  the  earth ;  for  by  thy  sorceries  were  all  nations  deceived. 

24  And  in  her  was  found  the  blood  of  prophets,  and  of  saints,  and 
of  all  that  were  slain  upon  the  earth. 


Great  Rejoicing  in  Heaven. 

XIX.]  [Ver.  1-10. 

1       And  after  these  things  I  heard  a  great  voice  of  much  people 

1  Whilst  kings,  merchants,  and  seamen  of  Komish  countries  are  lamenting  the 
fall  of  spiritual  Babylon,  the  holy  apostles  and  prophets,  and  inhabitants  of  heaven, 
are  called  upon  to  exult  and  rejoice  over  her.     To  approve  the  righteous  judgments 
of  God  is  no  breach  of  the  spirit  of  benevolence.     (See  the  striking  paragraph  in 
Edward  Irving's  Introductory  Essay  to  Home  on  the  Psalms,  "  Eebuke  is  a  form  of 
charity,"  etc.) 

2  To  confirm  and  render  more  vivid  the  sudden  and  utter  destruction  of  the 
papacy,  we  have  the  emblem  of  a  great  millstone  cast  into  the  sea  to  represent  the 
violence  with  which  Babylon  will  be  thrown  down.     Then  the  music  for  which  she 
has  long  been  distinguished  shall  cease  ;  and  artists  will  no  more  furnish  specimens 
in  painting  and  sculpture,  i.e.,  the  fine  arts  shall  no  longer  be  perverted  in  the 
support  of  this  great  spiritual  usurpation. 


242  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF   ST.  JOHN. 

in  heaven,1  saying,  Alleluia ;   Salvation,  and  glory,  and  honour, 

2  and  power,  unto  the  Lord  our  God :    for  true  and  righteous 
are  His  judgments ;  for  He  hath  judged  the  great  whore,  which 
did  corrupt  the  earth  with  her  fornication,  and  hath  avenged 

3  '  the  blood  of  His  servants  at  her  hand.     And  again  they  said, 

4  Alleluia.     And  her  smoke  rose  up  for  ever  and  ever.     And  the 
four  and  twenty  elders   and   the   four  beasts  fell  down  and 
worshipped    God    that    sat    on    the   throne,    saying,  Amen; 

5  Alleluia.     And  a  voice  came  out  of  the  throne,  saying,  Praise 
our  God,  all  ye  His   servants,  and   ye  that  fear  Him,   both 

6  small  and  great.     And  I  heard  as  it  were  the  voice  of  a  great 
multitude,  and  as  the  voice  of  many  waters,  and  as  the  voice  of 
mighty   thunderings,    saying,    Alleluia:    for    the    Lord    God 

7  omnipotent  reigneth.     Let  us  be  glad  and  rejoice,  and  give 
honour  to  Him  :  for  the  marriage  of  the  Lamb  is  come,  and  His 

8  wife  hath  made  herself  ready.     And  to  her  was  granted  that 
she  should  be  arrayed  in  fine  linen,  clean  and  white :  for  the 

9  fine  linen  is  the  righteousness  of  saints.     And  he  saith  unto 
me,  Write,  Blessed  are  they  which  are  called  unto  the  marriage 
supper  of  the  Lamb.     And  he  saith  unto  me,  These  are  the 

10  true  sayings  of  God.     And  I  fell  at  his  feet  to  worship  him. 
And  he  said  unto  me,  See  thou  do  it  not :  I  am  thy  fellow 
servant,  and  of  thy  brethren  that  have  the  testimony  of  Jesus  : 
worship    God:    for   the  testimony   of    Jesus   is  the   spirit  of 
prophecy. 

Final  Conflict  and  Victory. 

[Yer.  11-21. 

11  And  I  saw  heaven  opened,  and  behold  a  white  horse;2  and  He 
that  sat  upon  him  was  called  Faithful  and  True,  and  in  right- 

1  First,  John  heard  a  voice  of  much  people  in  heaven,  praising  God  for  faith- 
fulness to  His  word  in  visiting  an  apostate  and  corrupt  church.     He  also  hears  the 
four  and  twenty  elders  and  the  four  living  creatures  respond  as  they  fall  down  and 
worship  God,  saying,  "  Amen  ;  Alleluia."      Then  came  a  voice  from  the  throne 
exhorting  the  servants  of  God  to  praise  Him,  and  immediately  was  heard  from  the 
voice  of  a  great  multitude  the  epithalamium  to  be  sung  at  the  marriage  supper  of 
the  Lamb. 

2  A  sublime  description  of  the  Saviour  and  His  redeemed  led  forth  by  Him  in 
battle  array  to  the  last  conflict  with  antichristian  powers.      The  white  horse  is 
not  an  emblem  of  bloodshed ;  and  the  glorious  Leader  that  sat  upon  him,  whose 
name  was  THE  WOBD  or  GOD,  was  not  clad  in  the  armour  of  a  warrior,  but  had  on 
His  head  many  crowns,  and  was  clothed  in  a  vesture  dipped  in  blood  as  an  emblem 
of  His  atoning  work.     The  imagery  is  similar  to  that  employed  in  describing  what 


REVELATION   XIX.  243 

t-2  eousness  He  doth  judge  and  make  war.     His  eyes  were  as  a 
flame  of  fire,  and  on  His  head  were  many  crowns ;  and  He  had  a 

13  name  written,  that  no  man  knew,  but  He  Himself.  And  He  was 
clothed  with  a  vesture  dipped  in  blood  :  and  His  name  is  called 

14  The  Word  of  God.     And  the  armies  which  were  in  heaven  fol- 
lowed Him  upon  white  horses,  clothed  in  fine  linen,  white  and 

15  clean.  And  out  of  His  mouth  goeth  a  sharp  sword,  that  with  it 
He  should  smite  the  nations  :  and  He  shall  rule  them  with  a 
rod  of  iron :  and  He  treadeth  the  winepress  of  the  fierceness  and 

16  wrath  of  Almighty  God.     And  He  hath  on  His  vesture  and  on 
His  thigh  a  name  written,  KING  OF  KINGS,  AND  LORD 

17  OF  LORDS.     And  I  saw  an  angel  standing  in  the  sun;  and 
he  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  saying  to  all  the  fowls  *  that  fly  in 
the  midst  of  heaven,   Come  and  gather  yourselves  together 

18  unto  the  supper  of  the  great  God ;  that  ye  may  eat  the  flesh 
of  kings,  and  the  flesh  of  captains,  and  the  flesh  of  mighty 
men,  and  the  flesh  of  horses,  and  of  them  that  sit  on  them,  and 
the  flesh  of  all  men,  both  free  and  bond,  both  small  and  great. 

19  And  I  saw  the  beast  and  the  kings  of  the  earth,  and  their 
armies,  gathered  together  to  make  war  against  Him  that  sat  on 

20  the  horse,  and  against  His  army.     And  the  beast  *  was  taken, 

John  saw  when  the  first  seal  was  opened,  applied  to  the  early  spread  of  the 
gospel.  Moreover,  the  armies  which  followed  Him  were  also  upon  white  horses, 
and  were  clothed  in  fine  linen.  Does  not  this  imply  that  the  conflict  is  a  moral 
one,  and  the  victory  is  to  be  achieved  by  the  mild  and  beneficent  influence  of  the 
gospel  ?  Evil  has  no  doubt  been  done,  and  charity  been  wounded  in  the  house  of 
her  friends,  by  interpreting  too  literally  the  symbols  of  the  seventh  vial  as  judg- 
ments or  calamities  to  be  visited  on  the  papal  world.  We  should  be  on  our  guard 
against  harsh,  uncharitable  judgments,  and  that  spirit  which  would  find  satisfac- 
tion in  visitations  of  evil  on  those  from  whom  we  differ,  however  pernicious  their 
errors. 

1  This  imagery  is  appropriate  to  carry  out  the  figure  of  a  battle,  as  birds  of  prey 
follow  armies  and  hover  over  battle  fields,  but  is  to  be  interpreted  in  harmony 
with  the  supposed  spiritual  nature  of  the  conflict. 

2  This  is  the  final  appearance  of  the  beast  in  this  prophecy ;  here  is  that  end 
which  was  foredoomed  when  the  seventh  vial  was  poured  out  (chap.  xvi.  17-21). 
By  "  the  false  prophet "  may  be  understood  the  priesthood  of  Eome,  as  directed 
and  animated  by  the  pope.     When  the  power  of  the  pope  is  entirely  broken  the 
Komish  clergy  will  reassert  their  proper  independence,  and  there  will  be  a  return 
to  the  primitive  purity  of   the  Church ;  the  signs  of  the  white  horses  and  the 
crowns  of  the  first  seal  reappear  in  connection  with  the  last  drops  of  the  seventh 
vial  of  the  last  seal. 

In  this  work  the  term  "  antichrist  "  has  not  been  applied  to  the  pope.  It  is  used 
by  the  author  of  the  Apocalypse  in  his  First  and  Second  Epistles  (1  John  ii.  1&-23, 
iv.  1-3 ;  2  John  7),  and  occurs  nowhere  else  in  Scripture.  It  has  been  understood 


244  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OP   ST.  JOHN. 

and  with  him  the  false  prophet  that  wrought  miracles  before 
him,  with  which  he  deceived  them  that  had  received  the  mark 
of  the  beast,  and  them  that  worshipped  his  image.  These  both 
were  cast  alive  into  a  lake  of  fire  burning  with  brimstone. 
21  And  the  remnant  were  slain  with  the  sword  l  of  Him  that  sat 
upon  the  horse,  which  sword  proceeded  out  of  His  mouth :  and 
all  the  fowls  were  filled  with  their  flesh. 


7.   MILLENNIUM,  LAST  JUDGMENT,  AND  HEAVEN.* 
(CHAPS.  XX.  TO  XXII.) 

Millennium. 

XX.]  [  Ver.  1-6. 

1       And  I  saw  an  angel  come  down  from  heaven,  having  the 

very  generally  as  equivalent  to  the  man  of  sin,  and  the  6  aj>TiKe[fj.evos,  the  adversary, 
of  2  Thess.  ii.  3,  4.  But  St.  John  says  there  are  "many  antichrists,"  and  applies 
to  them  the  name  of  false  "prophets  "  or  teachers;  and  he  expressly  tells  us  that 
"  every  spirit  that  confesseth  not  that  Jesus  Christ  is  come  in  the  flesh,"  i.e.,  that 
denies  the  true  and  proper  humanity  of  Christ,  "is  that  spirit  of  antichrist,"  re- 
ferring to  the  peculiar  form  of  false  doctrine  regarding  Christ's  humanity  (taught 
by  Cerinthus  and  others)  which  was  rife,  or  for  which  there  were  zealous  advocates 
when  he  wrote.  The  man  of  sin  of  St.  Paul  is  certainly  to  be  identified  with  the 
second  apocalyptic  beast  (Kev.  xiii.  11) ;  but  whether  this  identification  can  be 
traced  further,  and  made  to  include  the  antichrist  of  St.  John,  is  doubtful.  In  the 
word  antichrist  the  anti,  in  Greek,  denotes,  just  as  when  it  stands  by  itself,  not 
always  opposition  but  quite  as  frequently  substitution  ;  so  that  the  word  may  stand 
for  a  counterfeit  or  pseudo  Christ,  a  "  false  Christ"  (Matt.  xxiv.  24).  The  deceivers 
and  false  prophets,  by  presenting  in  their  doctrine  a  spurious  Christ,  were  them- 
selves antichrists  or  representatives  of  a  false  Christ.  But  see  further  the  Notes, 
where  the  term  occurs,  in  the  Epistles  of  John. 

1  The  expression,  the  sword  "proceeded  out  of  His  mouth,"  furnishes  another 
hint  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  figurative  description  of  which  it  is  a  part.     The 
sword  that  proceeded  out  of  His  mouth  must  be  His  word,  His  glorious  gospel ; 
"the  sword  of  the  Spirit  is  the  word  of  God"  (Eph.  vi.  17).     The  slaying  there- 
fore of  "  the  remnant "  must  mean  their  conviction  and  conversion  by  the  power 
of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

2  This,  the  concluding  part  of  the  Apocalypse,  is  the  grandest  and  most  glorious 
of  all.     It  carries  out  and  concludes  the  design  of  this  wonderful  book  in  the  most 
fitting  manner.    Its  design  was  to  cheer  and  animate  Christians  in  the  contest 
and  struggles  in  which  their  cause  would  be  involved  through  a  long  series  of 
years.     Mere  touches  and  glimpses  of  the  final  victory  and  glory  are  all  that  are 
exhibited.     At  the  close  we  have  a  description  of  the  glorified  state  of  the  Church, 
which  may  well  fill  the  pious  heart  with  joy,  and  thrill  the  souls  of  the  faithful 
followers  of  Christ.     There  will  doubtless  be  long  intervals  between  the  events 
which  are  thrown  together  in  this  final  grouping,  which  are  not  described  and 
are  scarcely  noticed. 

The  doctrine  of  the  Chiliasts,  which  is  that  of  two  resurrections,  and  a  personal 


EEVELATION   XX.  245 

*  key1  of  the  bottomless  pit  and  a  great  chain  in  his  hand.  And 
he  laid  hold  on  the  dragon/  that  old  serpent,  which  is  the 

3  Devil,  and  Satan,  and  bound  him  a  thousand 3  years,  and  cast 
him  into  the  bottomless  pit,  and  shut  him  up,  and  set  a  seal 4 
upon  him,  that  he  should  deceive  the  nations  no  more,  till  the 


corporeal  reign  of  Christ  intervening  for  a  thousand  years  on  the  renovated  earth, 
was  not  the  prevailing  or  authoritative  one  in  the  apostolic  age.  But  on  account 
of  its  affinity  with  the  later  Jewish  idea  of  the  Messiah  and  His  kingdom,  it  was 
prevalent  among  the  Jewish,  as  distinguished  from  the  Gentile,  Christians.  It 
appeared  first  in  the  system  of  the  Judaistic-Gnostic  Cerinthus,  the  contemporary 
and  opponent  of  the  apostle  John.  There  are  no  traces  of  this  doctrine  in  the 
writings  of  Clement  of  Eome,  Ignatius,  Polycarp,  Tatian,  Athenagoras,  and  Theo- 
philus  of  Antioch.  Of  the  apostolical  fathers  only  Barnabas,  Hermas,  and 
Papias  exhibit  in  their  writings  distinct  traces  of  this  doctrine.  Clement  of 
Alexandria  and  Origen  made  a  vigorous  attack  upon  it.  Augustine  adopted  it  in 
his  earlier,  but  rejected  it  in  his  riper,  years.  At  the  period  of  the  Eeformation  it 
appeared  again  in  the  fanaticism  and  excesses  of  the  Anabaptists.  (History  of 
Christian  Doctrine,  W.  G.  T.  Shedd,  D.D.,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  389-398.) 

1  Here,  as  elsewhere  throughout  this  book,  the  language  is  highly  symbolical. 
What  we  have  to  do  is  to  interpret  these  symbols  in  the  unfulfilled  portion  of 
the  prophecy  as  best  we  can,  by  the  same  laws  we  have  found  applicable  in  the 
fulfilled  portion.      In  chapter  i.  18  it  is  Christ  Himself  who  claims  to  have  the 
keys  ;  and  in  Matthew  xii.  28,  29,  it  is  represented  as  the  peculiar  work  of  Christ 
to  bind  Satan.     Compare  Colossians  ii.  15 ;  Hebrews  ii.  14  ;  1  John  iii.  8.     The 
key  suggests  the  further  idea  of  a  gate  or  door.     In  chapter  ix.  1,  2,  it  is  open  for 
the  discharge  of  evil  on  the  earth  ;  here  the  key  is  to  be  used  for  closing  it  up  and 
securing  him  who  is  the  great  source  and  doer  of  evil. 

2  In  chapter  xii.  9  we  have  the  same  names  of  the  great  enemy,  and  in  the 
same  order  precisely.     The  beast  and  the  false  prophet  whom  the  dragon  had  once 
animated  have  been  destroyed,  but  the  dragon  himself  survives ;  and  that  he  may 
not  organize  some  new  form  of  opposition  to  Christ  and  His  cause,  Christ  now 
seizes  and  binds  him  for  a  thousand  years. 

3  The  Scriptures  abound  in  predictions  of  the  spread  of  the  gospel  and  a  latter 
day  glory,  but  it  is  here  alone  that  we  find  the  idea  of  a  thousand  years.    It  is  to 
be  taken  literally  so  far  as  to  be  understood  as  meaning  a  definite,  protracted 
period ;  whether  it  is  to  be  understood  as  meaning  exactly  ten  hundred  years,  it 
becomes  no  one  to  speak  positively.    If  however  the  question  be  settled  according 
to  the  analogy*  of  the  book  as  regards  other  specified  periods  in  its  fulfilled  por- 
tions, then  we  may  suppose  that  the  thousand  years  are  to  be  taken  in  their 
ordinary  sense,  though  not  with  rigid,  arithmetical  exactness.    We  can  scarcely 
suppose  that  this  period  will  have  a  beginning  and  ending  as  clearly  defined  and 
marked  as  that  of  a  given  century.    We  may  rather  suppose  that  in  this  respect  it 
will  be  analogous  to  one  of  our  natural  days,  which  begins  with  dawn,  the  light 
increasing  till  the  sun  rises,  and  closes  when  the  sun  goes  down,  the  light  gradually 
diminishing  till  it  is  night  again.      It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  the  "  thousand 
years  "  are  mentioned  no  less  than  six  times,  a  repetition  which  shows  that  a  real 
importance  is  to  be  attached  to  it. 

4  The  symbol  of  sealing  indicates  the  security  of  the  custody.    Darius  sealed  the 
stone  at  the  mouth  of  the  lions'  den  into  which  Daniel  was  cast ;  the  stone  at  the 
tomb  in  which  the  body  of  Jesus  was  placed  was  sealed.    The  meaning  is  that 


246  THE   LIFE   AND   WEITINGS    OF   ST.  JOHN. 

thousand  years  should  be  fulfilled :  and  after  that  he  must  be 

4  loosed  a  little  season.     And  I  saw  thrones,1  and  they  sat  upon 
them,  and  judgment  was   given  unto  them  :   and  I  saw  the 
souls 2  of  them  that  were  beheaded  for  the  witness  of  Jesus, 
and  for  the  word  of  God,  and  which  had  not  worshipped  the 
beast,  neither  his  image,  neither  had  received  his  mark  upon 
their  foreheads,  or  in  their  hands ;  and  they  lived  and  reigned 

5  with  Christ  a  thousand  years.     But  the  rest3  of  the  dead  lived 
not  again  until  the  thousand  years  were  finished.     This  is  the 

6  first  resurrection.     Blessed  and  holy  is  he  that  hath  part  in  the 
first  resurrection  :  on  such  the  second 4  death  hath  no  power, 
but  they  shall  be  priests  of  God  and  of  Christ,  and  shall  reign 
with  Him  a  thousand  years. 

there  would  be  a  state  of  peace  and  security  in  the  highest  sense,  as  if  Satan,  the 
deceiver  of  men,  were  chained  and  imprisoned,  and  could  by  no  possibility  escape. 
It  will  be  a  period  in  which  all  that  has  existed  in  the  former  history  of  the  world, 
in  antichristian  systems  and  delusions,  pagan  idolatry,  Jewish  unbelief,  Eoman 
Catholic  Mariolatry  and  superstition,  Mohammedan  delusion,  and  philosophy 
falsely  so  called,  shall  cease. 

1  It  seems  natural  to  suppose  that  these  are  the  thrones  which  John  saw,  chap, 
iv.  4. 

2  Not  the  bodies  of  the  martyrs.     This  seems  designed  to  exclude  the  notion  of 
a  literal  or  bodily  resurrection  in  the  millennium.     They  will  live  and  reign  with 
Christ,  who  was  crucified,  and  for  whose  word  they  suffered  and  died,  by  the 
universal  diffusion  of  that  word,  by  His  spotless  example  and  their  spirit  of  self 
denial  and  devotion  more  fully  displayed  in  the  daily  walk  and  conversation  of 
Christians.     Christ  may  be  said  to  reign  in  them,  and  they  with  Christ.     "  The 
image  of  Christ,"  exclaimed  John  Huss,  the  martyr,  "  will  never  be  effaced.    His 
enemies  have  wished  to  destroy  it,  but  it  shall  be  painted  afresh  in  all  hearts  by 
much  better  preachers  than  myself.     The  nation  that  loves  Christ  will  rejoice  at 
this,  and  I  awaking  from  among  the  dead  and  rising,  so  to  speak,  from  my  grave 
shall  leap  with  great  joy."     The  pope  Adrian,  addressing  the  diet  at  Nuremberg, 
said  :  "the  heretics  Huss  and  Jerome  are  now  alive  again  in  the  person  of  Martin 
Luther." 

3  We    are    to   understand  those    who    are    in    character  unlike  the    faithful 
witnesses  of  Christ.     This  means  that  they  were  not  in  like  manner  to  have  their 
representatives  on  earth  during  this  blessed  period.     Professor  Stuart  holds  that 
the  first  resurrection  is  literal,  and  means  that  at  the  opening  of  the  thousand  years 
the  bodies  of  the  honoured  martyrs  will  be  raised  up,  not  indeed  to  reappear  on 
earth,  but  to  be  taken  to  heaven  to  reign  with  Christ  in  perfected  bliss.     This  is 
very  different  from  the  millenarian  doctrine,  and  is  perhaps  on  the  whole  the 
preferable  view,  inasmuch  as  the  word  first  in  the  declaration,  "  this  is  the  first 
resurrection,''  may  be  taken  as  indicating  the  nature  of  the  resurrection  spoken  of, 
and  is  the  same  as  that  mentioned  in  the  close  of  the  chapter. 

4  See  John  xi.  26  ;  Eev.  ii.  11. 


REVELATION   XX.  247 

Final  Destruction  of  Satan's  Power. 

[Yer.  7-10. 

And  when  the  thousand  years  are  expired,  Satan  shall l  be 

8  loosed  out  of   his  prison,  and   shall   go   out   to   deceive   the 
nations  which  are  in  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth,  Gog  and 
Magog,2  to  gather  them  together  to  battle  :  the  number  of 

9  whom  is  as  the  sand  of  the  sea.     And  they  went  up  on  the 
breadth  of  the  earth,  and  compassed  the  camp 3  of  the  saints 
about,  and  the  beloved  city  :  and  fire  came  down  from  God  out 

10  of  heaven,  and  devoured  them.     And  the  devil  that  deceived 
them  was  cast  into  the  lake 4  of  fire  and  brimstone,  where  the 
beast  and  the  false  prophet  are,  and  shall  be  tormented  day 
and  night  for  ever  and  ever. 

1  John  here  distinctly  announces  the  future,  and  does  not  as  elsewhere  merely 
describe  what  he  sees  and  hears  as  passing  before  him.    We  are  not  to  expect  that 
during  the  millennial  period  human  nature  as  to  its  corrupt  tendencies  will  be 
essentially  changed,  and  the  evils  of  the  apostasy  wholly  arrested.     This  can  be 
expected  only  in  the  heavenly  state.     On  the  renewal  of  temptation  from  without, 
men  will  be  liable,  notwithstanding  all  the  grace  and  culture  which  have  character- 
ized the  thousand  years'  reign,  to  fall  into  the  same  degeneracy  and  corruption. 
This  may  be  needed,  to  give  the  crowning  proof  of  the  weakness  of  man,  and  his 
need  of  the  all-conquering  grace  of  God  to  redeem  him  wholly  from  evil.     We  are 
expressly  told  in  the  third  verse  that  this  loosing  of  Satan  is  only  for  "  a  little 
season."   It  will  probably  be  very  brief,  especially  in  comparison  with  the  thousand 
years.     Possibly  there  may  be  a  long  period  succeeding  it  before  the  final  judg- 
ment ;   we  are  not  told.     To  such  a  supposition,   however,   the  most  obvious 
interpretation  of  other  parts  belonging  to  the  eschatology  of  the  New  Testament 
does  not  seem  to  be  favourable. 

2  The  deceived  among  the  nations  are  called  Gog  and  Magog,  names  borrowed 
from  the  prophet  Ezekiel.     (See  Ezek.  xxxviii.  2,  3,  16,  18  ;  xxxix.  1-11.)     As  the 
terms  are  used  by  Ezekiel,  Gog  was  the  king  of  a  people  called  Magog.    It  is  com- 
monly supposed  that  they  were   Scythians,  residing  between  the  Caspian  and 
Euxine  seas,  or  in  the  region  of  mount  Caucasus.     All  that  it  is  necessary  to 
understand  here  is,  that  enemies  of  the  Church  would  arise  during  the  short  period 
referred  to,  who  might  be  compared  to  the  ancient  barbarous  hordes  under  Gog, 
king  of  Magog. 

3  All  are  not  deceived.    There  are  those  who  remain  faithful,  like  the  seven 
thousand  in  the  days  of  Ahab. 

4  The  whole  compass  of  nature  affords  no  imagery  moye  terrific  :  a  lake  of  fire, 
whose  flames  are  rendered  intense  and  suffocating  from  burning  sulphur.     This 
destruction  of  Satan  is  complete  and  final.    All  forms  of  opposition  to  truth  and 
righteousness  perish  with  him.     The  great  purposes  of  God  in  the  creation  of  man 
are  accomplished,  the  work  of  redemption  finished.      "All  the  great  wheels  of 
Providence,"  says  President  Edwards  in  his  History  of  Kedemption,  "  have  gone 
round ;  all  things  are  ripe  for  Christ's  coming  to  judgment."     The  final  destruc- 
tion of  wickedness  and  its  author  may  be  simultaneous  with  that  coming.     Christ 
Himself  seems  to  teach  that  His  second  coming  was  to  overtake  men  as  the  flood 
did,  as  the  destruction  of  Sodom  did,  etc.     (Luke  xvii.  26-30,  xviii.  8;  compare 
1  Thess.  v.  2,  3  ;  2  Pet.  iii.  3-10.) 


248  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OP   ST.  JOHN. 

Resurrection  and  Last  Judgment. 

[Yer.  11-15. 

11  And  I  saw  a  great  white  throne,1  and  Him  that  sat  on  it, 
from  whose  face  the  earth  and  the  heaven  fled  away ;  and  there 

12  was  found  no  place  for  them.     And  I  saw  the  dead,  small  and 
great,  stand  before  God ;  and  the  books 2  were  opened :  and 
another  book  was  opened,  which  is  the  book  of  life :  and  the 
dead  were  judged  out  of  those  things  which  were  written  in 

13  the  books,  according  to  their  works.    And  the  sea 3  gave  up 
the  dead  which  were  in  it ;  and  death  and  hell 4  delivered  up 
the  dead  which  were  in  them  :  and  they  were  judged  every  man 

14  according  to  their  works.     And  death  and  hell  were  cast  into 

15  the  lake  of  fire.     This  is  the  second 5  death.     And  whosoever 
was  not  found  written  in  the  book  of  life  was  cast  into  the  lake 
of  fire. 

Prelude  to  the  description  of  the  New  Jerusalem. 
XXI.]  [Ver.  1-8. 

1       And  I  saw  a  new 6  heaven  and  a  new  earth :  for  the  first  heaven 
and  the  first  earth  were  passed  away ;  and  there  was  no  more 

1  The  scene  described  by  Christ  Himself  (Matt.  xxv.  31,  seq.)  is  that  which  now 
occurs.     To  Him  all  judgment  has  been  committed :  John  v.  22 ;    Eev.  i.  7,  8  ; 
compare  Kev.  xxi.  5.     The  passage  has  been  pronounced  one  of  the  most  sublime  to 
be  found  in  any  writing.    It  is  "  so  majestic  and  grand  that  it  exceeds  commentary 
and  paraphrase." 

2  The  book  of  Nature,  out  of  which  pagans  and  Christians  will  be  judged ;  the 
book  of  Eevelation,  out  of  which  all  who  have  received  it  will  be  judged  ;  the  book 
of  God's  remembrance ;  the  books  of  human  memory  and  conscience.     The  other 
book  which  shall  be  opened  is  the  Lamb's  book  of  life,  in  which  are  recorded  the 
names  of  all  the  redeemed  (Eev.  xxi.  27,  iii.  5  ;  comp.  Phil.  iv.  3). 

3  It  is  to  be  remembered  that  John  was  on  an  island,  within  sight  of  that  vast 
cemetery,  the  sea. 

4  Death  and  hades  are  personified  and  represented  as  delivering  up  the  dead,  as 
if  they  were  held  in  captivity  by  them.     The  personification  is  continued  in  verse  14, 
where  they  are  represented  as  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire. 

5  The  first  death  was  that  which  overtook  man  in  the  day  he  incurred  the  penalty, 
"In  the  day  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die."     The  second  is  that  inflicted 
on  all  those  who,  judged  according  to  their  works  and  their  names  not  found  in  the 
book  of  life,  are  condemned. 

6  Everything  is  now  prepared  for  the  kingdom  of  God  in  its  final  perfection  and 
glory.     The  literal  Jerusalem,  when  John  wrote  this  description,  was  soon  to  be 
no  more.     The  armies  that  were  to  lay  it  waste  were  gathering  ;  and  John,  on  his 
desolate  rock  in  the  ^Egean,  had  heard  the  trumpets  sounding  as  the  armies  marched 
to  their  work.     The  change  is  represented  by  the  passing  away  of  "  the  first  heaven 
and  the  first  earth  "  and  the  creation  of  new  ones.     This  prediction  is  clearly  re- 
ferred to  in  the  well  known  words  of  the  apostle  (2  Pet.  iii.  7,  10,  13 ;  compare 


REVELATION   XXI.  249 

sea.1  And  I  John  saw  the  holy  city, 2  new  Jerusalem,  coming 
down  from  God  out  of  heaven,  prepared  as  a  bride  3  adorned 
for  her  husband.  And  I  heard  a  great  voice4  out  of  heaven 
saying,  Behold  the  tabernacle 5  of  God  is  with  men,  and  He  will 
dwell  with  them,  and  they  shall  be  His  people,  and  God  Himself 
shall  be  with  them,  and  be  their  God.  And  God  shall  wipe 
away  all  tears  6  from  their  eyes ;  and  there  shall  be  no  more 
death,  neither  sorrow,  nor  crying,  neither  shall  there  be  any 
more  pain :  for  the  former  things  are  passed  away.  And  He 
that  sat  upon  the  throne  said,  Behold,  I  make  all  things  new. 
And  he  said  7  unto  me,  Write ;  for  these  words  are  true  and 


Isa.  Ixv.  17,  18).  The  teaching  of  Scripture  seems  to  he  that  the  earth,  having 
been  purified  and  surrounded  with  new  aerial  heavens,  is  to  become  one  of  the 
"  many  mansions,"  or  an  apartment  in  the  house  of  the  Father  especially  appro- 
priate to  the  redeemed.  Man  in  the  future  state  will  still  have  a  complex  nature, 
a  soul  residing  in  an  immortal  body.  He  must  therefore  have  a  world  suited  to 
this  nature,  not  "  an  abode  of  dimness  and  mystery,  so  remote  from  human 
experience  as  to  be  beyond  all  comprehension,  where  the  inmates  float  in  ether  or 
are  mysteriously  suspended  upon  nothing  "  (Dr.  Chalmers's  Sermon  on  New  Heaven 
and  Earth),  but  a  home  suited  to  the  body  of  the  resurrection. 

1  Nature  has  fortified  the  separate  divisions  of  the  present  earth  by  interposing 
vast  expanses  of  water,  which  present  somewhat  difficult  barriers  to  conquest  and 
despotic  rule,  and  the  vices  and  corruptions  which  are  propagated  by  example.    In 
heaven  there  will  be  no  need  of  these  barriers. 

2  This  is  not  the  same  city  spoken  of  as  "  the  beloved  city,"  chapter  xx.  9. 
That  was  the  church  militant ;  this  is  the  church  triumphant.    It  is  called  "  new  " 
Jerusalem,  not  merely  because  it  forms  a  contrast  to  the  church  in  the  militant 
state,  sometimes  called  Jerusalem,  but  to  the  literal  Jerusalem,  about  to  be  so  fear- 
fully destroyed  by  the  heathen. 

3  A  beautiful  woman  richly  attired  for  her  nuptials,  that  seems  to  descend  from 
heaven,  is  the  symbol  presented  to  the  vision  of  John. 

4  As  God  is  spoken  of  by  this  voice  in  the  third  person,  we  conclude  with  reason 
that  this  voice  is  like  that  spoken  of,  chap.  xix.  1,  "of  much  people,  in  heaven  "  ; 
and  belongs  to  the  great  multitude  of  the  just  made  perfect,  as  they  descend  to 
their  inheritance  in  the  new  heaven  and  new  earth.     It  is  the  song  or  testimony 
John  hears  from  the  citizens  of  the  new  Jerusalem,  as  it  floats  down  from  on  high. 

8  The  allusion  is  to  the  tabernacle,  or  tent,  in  which  God  manifested  His  presence 
to  His  people  of  old.  The  meaning  is  not  that  the  new  Jerusalem  is  itself  the 
tabernacle,  but  the  city  contains  the  tabernacle,  as  the  literal  Jerusalem  contained 
the  temple ;  it  is  its  centre,  grand  feature,  and  highest  glory.  As  the  Word  was 
made  flesh  and  tabernacled  among  us  (tric/ivwffev  ev  TJ/MV,  John  i.  14),  so  will  the 
eternal  Word,  in  His  risen  glorified  body,  for  ever  tabernacle  or  dwell  among  the 
redeemed  in  heaven. 

6  The  exclusion  of  just  those  things  which  belong  to  our  present  painful  experi- 
ence is  specified.     Even  death,  which  is  the  bitterest  cause  of  weeping  in  this  world, 
shall  cease. 

7  We  now  have  a  voice  unmistakably  from  the  throne.    The  words,  "  and  he 
said  unto  me,  Write ;  for  these  words  are  true  and  faithful,"  are  probably  to  be 


250  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

6  faithful.     And  He  said  unto  me,   It  is    done.1     I  am  Alpha  2 
and  Omega,  the  beginning  and  the  end.     I  will  give  unto  him 

7  that  is  athirst  of  the  fountain  of  the  water  of  life  freely.     He 
that  overcometh  shall  inherit  all  things ;  and  I  will  be  his  God, 

8  and  he  shall  be  My  son.     But  the  fearful,  and  unbelieving,  and 
the  abominable,  and  murderers,  and  whoremongers,  and  sorcer- 
ers, and  idolaters,  and  all  liars,  shall  have  their  part  in  the  lake 
which  burneth  with  fire  and  brimstone :  which  is  the  second 
death. 

The  New  Jerusalem  described. 

[Ver.  9-21. 

9  And  there  came  unto  me  one 3  of  the  seven  angels  which  had 
the  seven  vials  full  of  the  seven  last  plagues,  and  talked  with 
me,  saying,  Come  hither,  I  will  show  thee  the  bride,  the  Lamb's 

10  wife.     And  he  carried  me  away  in  the  spirit  to  a  great  and 
high  mountain,4  and  showed   me   that  great  city,  the   holy 5 

11  Jerusalem,  descending  out  of   heaven  from  God,  having   the 
glory8  of  God:  and  her  light  was  like  unto  a  stone7  most 

12  precious,  even  like  a  jasper  stone,  clear  as  crystal.;  and  had  a 
wall 8  great  and  high,  and  had  twelve  gates,  and  at  the  gates 

taken  parenthetically,  and  in  them  we  may  understand  the  angel  who  had  prompted 
John  before  to  write  telling  him  to  make  record  of  the  words  he  should  hear  uttered 
by  the  voice  from  the  throne.  The  voice  from  the  throne  proceeds. 

1  "It  is  done  "  (it  was  so),  was  the  word  uttered  in  the  beginning,  after  every 
creative  act ;  and  the  same  "  It  is  done  "  is  repeated  now  at  the  end  in  regard  to 
the  work  of  renewal  (Hengstenberg). 

2  The  Speaker  identifies  Himself  with  Him  that  was  heard  speaking,  as  recorded 
at  the  beginning  of  this  book  (chap.  i.  8-11). 

3  The  same  of  whom  we  read  chap.  xvii.  1.       There  was  eminent  fitness  that 
this  angel  should  make  known  the  final  triumph  that  awaited  the  church. 

4  The  prophet  Ezekiel  (chap.  xl.  2)  was  in  like  manner  brought  to  the  top  of  a 
high  mountain.     That  which  was  about  to  be  exhibited  to  John  would  be  of  vast 
magnitude,  and  it  was  necessary  he  should  be  in  a  position  to  see  and  describe  it. 

c  Holy,  in  contrast  with  the  wicked  city  which  was  about  to  be  destroyed. 

6  From  his  position  on  the  lofty  mountain  he  descries  the  descending  city.      It 
was  illuminated,  resplendent  with  the  glory  of  God. 

7  With  John,  what  he  calls  a  jasper  stone  was  the  most  precious  of  precious 
stones.     It  is  not  certain  that  he  meant  what  is  known  to  modern  lapidaries  as 
jasper,  of  which  there  is  said  to  be  a  crystal  kind,  pellucid  and  diaphonous.     It 
glistened  with  the  light  like  a  crystal  of  the  most  beautiful  kind. 

8  A  wall  with  gates  was  essential  to  an  ancient  city,  and  the  new  Jerusalem  is 
accordingly  so  represented.     There  are  no  enemies  to  be  guarded  against,  as  all 
enemies  have  been  destroyed ;  but  the  wall  and  gates,  and  the  angels  standing  as 
guards,  are  to  be  taken  as  symbolical  of  security,  or  freedom  from  danger  of  any 
sort. 


REVELATION   XXI.  251 

twelve  angels,  and  names  written  thereon,  which  are  the  names 

13  of  the  twelve  tribes  of  the  children  of  Israel :    on  the  east 1 
three  gates;  on  the  north  three   gates;    on  the  south  three 

14  gates ;  and  on  the  west  three  gates.     And  the  wall  of  the  city 
had  twelve  foundations,  and  in  them  the  names  of  the  twelve2 

15  apostles  of  the   Lamb.     And  he  that  talked  with  me  had  a 
golden  reed  to  measure  the  city,  and  the  gates  thereof,  and  the 

16  wall  thereof.     And  the  city  lieth  four  square,3  and  the  length 
is  as  large  as  the  breadth  :  and  he  measured  the  city  with  the 
reed,  twelve  thousand  furlongs.     The  length  and  the  breadth 

17  and  the  height  of  it  are  equal.     And  he  measured  the  wall4 
thereof,  a  hundred  and  forty  and  four  cubits,  according  to  the 

18  measure  of  a  man,  that  is,  of  the  angel.     And  the  building5 
of  the  wall  of  it  was  of  jasper  :  and  the  city  6  was  pure  gold, 


1  The  city  is  open  alike  to  every  quarter,  and  there  are  the  same  ample  means  of 
access  and  entrance. 

2  The  most  probable  conception  as  to  the  relation  of  the  foundation  to  the  wall  is 
the  following :  "  every  twelfth  part  of  the  walls,  between  the  several  gates,  had  a 
foundation  stone  stretching  along  the  whole  distance  "  (De  Wette).    And  as  upon 
each  of  the  gates  was  the  name  of  one  of  the  tribes  of  Israel,  so  upon  each  of  these 
foundation  stones  was  the  name  of  one  of  the  twelve  apostles.     The  two  economies 
are  brought  into  one ;  the  new  Jerusalem  is  a  great  unity,  having  a  similar  relation 
to  both.     The  Lord  himself  and  the  disciple  whom  He  loved  knew  only  of  twelve 
apostles  ;  the  office  was  not  to  be  perpetuated. 

3  It  was  not  merely  four  sided,  but  an  exact  square.      The  dimensions  were 
ascertained  from  the  measurement  to  be  twelve  thousand  stadia  or  furlongs.     The 
height  was  the  same  as  the  length,  or  one  side  of  the  square.     Inasmuch  as  eight 
furlongs  make  a  Roman  mile,  the  city,  according  to  this  measurement,  was  375 
miles  square,  the  height  the  same. 

4  The   height   of   the  wall  was    144  cubits  "  according  to  the  measure   of   a 
man,"  or  common  cubits,  equal  to  216  feet.    The  angel  does  not  measure  according 
to  a  scale  unknown  to  us,  but  according  to  the  measure  of  a  man.    It  would  be  a 
perversion  of  this  sublime  vision  to  view  these  measurements  as  literally  describing 
the  plan  and  size  of  the  city.     It  was  375  miles  square ;  or  if  we  take  the  12,000 
furlongs  as  the  measurement  of  one  side  of  the  square,  then  it  was  1500  miles 
square.     The  wall  was  216  feet  high.      But  there  were  eminences  within  the 
walls  so  lofty  that  the  top  of  the  highest  pinnacles  upon  their  summits  was  as 
many  miles  above  the  base  of  the  walls  as  the  walls  were  long.     These  dimensions 
are  simply  symbolical  of  magnificence,  and  the  capacity  of  the  new  Jerusalem  to 
accommodate  the  multitudes  of  the  saved.    In  the  figurative  description  there  is 
nothing    grotesque   or  disproportioned ;    to  the  eye  of    the  apostle    there   rose 
within  the  walls  of  this  vast  city,  as  it  floated  down  irom  heaven,  mountain  ranges, 
upon  the  loftiest  summit  of  which  towered  the  acropolis,  high  above  the  nether- 
most of  its  foundations. 

5  The  material  of  which  the  wall  was  composed  was  of  a  single  kind,  that  which 
was  to  John  the  most  glorious  among  stones,  called  by  him  jasper. 

6  The  city  must  denote  the  mass  of  edifices  which  rise  within  the  wall.    The  gold 


252  THE    LIFE   AND   WETTINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

19  like  unto  clear  glass.     And  the  foundations  of  the  wall  of  the 
city  were  garnished  with  all  manner  of  precious   stones.1     The 
first  foundation  was  jasper ;  the  second,  sapphire ;  the   third, 

20  a  chalcedony ;   the  fourth,  an  emerald ;    the  fifth,  sardonyx ; 
the  sixth,  sardius ;  the  seventh,  chrysolite ;  the  eighth,  beryl ; 
the  ninth,  a  topaz ;  the  tenth,  a  chrysoprasus  ;  the  eleventh,  a 

21  jacinth ;  the  twelfth,  an  amethyst.     And  the  twelve  gates  were 
twelve  pearls ;  every  several  gate  2  was  of  one  pearl :  and  the 
street 3  of  the  city  was  pure  gold,  as  it  were  transparent  glass. 


The  New  Jerusalem  described  in  respect  to  its  more  Spiritual 

Elements. 

[Yer.  22-27. 

22  And  I  saw  no  temple  4  therein  :  for  the  Lord  God  Almighty 

23  and  the  Lamb  are  the  temple  of  it.     And  the  city  had  no  need 

is  pure  gold,  the  glass  clear.  The  meaning  is  not  that  the  gold  was  transparent ; 
but  its  absolute  purity  and  homogeneity  are  the  qualities  regarded.  The  gold  of 
which  the  city  was  composed  was  pure  as  pure  glass.  (See  Bengel  and  Mill.) 

1  Precious  stones  which  form  the  foundations  may  have  respect  to  the  peculiar 
gifts  of  God  which  unfolded  themselves  in  the  apostles  severally.     The  twelve 
stones  of  which  the  breastplate  of  the  Jewish  high-priests  was  composed,  set  in 
gold,  with  the  names  of  the  twelve  tribes  engraved  on  them,  were  as  far  as  we  can 
certainly  determine  the  same  as  those  enumerated  here.     Exod.  xxviii.  17-20 ; 
comp.  xxxix.  10-13.     John  gives  to  the  jasper  the  first  place,  which  in  the  enume- 
ration of  Moses  holds  the  last.     Dr.  Thomson  says  that  but  few  of  the  precious 
stones  mentioned  in  the  Bible  are  to  be  found  in  Palestine.     He  had  discovered 
jasper  and  agate  in  great  variety,  and  very  beautiful,  along  the  southern  and 
eastern  base  of  Mount  Casius  and  in  a  few  other  places.     The  biblical  mineralogy, 
he  thinks,  is  yet  involved  in  great  obscurity.     The  Orientals  always  paid  far  more 
attention  to  gems  and  similar  matters  than  we  are  accustomed  to  bestow  in  our 
day  and  country.     John  is  perfectly  at  home  among  precious  stones,  and  without 
effort  gives  a  list  which  puzzles  our  wisest  scholars  to  understand.  Lexicographers, 
commentators,  and  critics  are  equally  uncertain  (Land  and  Book,  vol.  i.,  pp.  437, 
438).     But  see  Professor  Stuart's  views  on  the  character  and  classification,  or 
arrangement,  of  these  stones  as  here  enumerated. 

2  Each  of  the  gates  was  one  solid  pearl.     Whatever  is  esteemed  most  glorious  on 
earth  is  borrowed  to  add  splendour  to  that  which  is  above  the  loftiest  flight  of  the 
imagination. 

3  The  streets  as  well  as  the  buildings  of  the  city  are  of  the  purest  gold,  gold 
pure  as  transparent  glass  is  pure. 

4  When  the  saved  in  heaven  are  said  to  be  made  pillars  "  in  the  temple  of  God" 
(chap.  iii.  12),  and  to  "  serve  Him  day  and  night  in  His  temple"  (chap.  vii.  15), 
the  language  occurs  in  the  order  of  the  prophecies  prior  to  the  destruction  of  the 
temple,  and  is  figurative,  meaning  that  the  redeemed  shall  dwell  in  the  presence  of 
God.     But  now,  as  the  temple,  in  the  order  of  the  prophecy,  has  been  destroyed, 
John  may  be  understood  as  speaking  literally;  the  new  Jerusalem  has  no  such 
structure  as  adorns  and  was  the  chief  attraction  of  the  old.     That  which  was  a 


KEVELATION   XXII.  253 

of  the  sun,  neither  of  the  moon,  to  shine  in  it :  for  the  glory  of 

24  God  did  lighten  it,  and  the  Lamb  is  the  light  thereof.     And 
the  nations l  of  them  which  are  saved  shall  walk  in  the  light  of 
it :  and  the  kings  2  of  the  earth  do  bring  their  glory  and  honour 

25  into  it.     And  the  gates  of  it  shall  not  be  shut 3  at  all  by  day  : 

26  for  there  shall  be  no  night 4  there.     And  they  shall  bring 5  the 

27  glory  and  honour  of  the  nations  into  it.     And  there  shall  in  no 
wise  enter  into  it  any  thing  that  defileth,  neither  whatsoever 
worketh   abomination,  or   maketh  a   lie :  but  they  which  are 
written  in  the  Lamb's  book  of  life. 

XXII.]  [Yer.  1-5. 

And  he  showed  me  a  pure  river6  of  water  of  life,  clear  as 

crystal,  proceeding  out  of  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb. 

2  In  the  midst  of  the  street  of  it,  and  on  either  side  of  the  river, 

tabernacle  in  the  wilderness,  which  was  a  temple  in  Jerusalem,  which  is  a  Christian 
sanctuary  wherever  sincere  worshippers  assemble,  has  grown  into  a  strong  city 
having  the  glory  of  the  Lord.  The  temple  with  its  rites  was  no  longer  needed. 
The  Lord  Himself  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ  having  come  and  filled  it  with  His 
glory,  it  was  now  to  pass  away  and  not  one  stone  to  be  left  upon  another.  This 
same  man,  Christ  Jesus,  shall  fill  the  new  Jerusalem  with  His  glory,  shall  be 
"  the  tabernacle  of  God  with  men  "  (chap.  xxi.  3).  This  glorified  humanity  will  be 
the  tent  or  tabernacle  in  which  God  will  be  manifest  and  His  Divinity  shine  forth 
with  a  lustre  which  shall  fill  His  saints  with  ineffable  delight  (see  ver.  23). 

1  An  allusion  to  the  great  multitude  who  will  be  saved. 

2  It  will  be  as  if  the  kings  of  the  earth  brought  all  that  they  consider  as  consti- 
tuting their  glory,  (crowns,  sceptres,  treasures,)  and  laid  them  down  at  the  feet  of 
Jesus  in  heaven. 

3  The  gates  of  ancient  cities  were  always  closed  at  night,  and  by  day  whenever 
there  was  danger  from  an  enemy.     But  there  will  be  no  night  in  heaven  and  no 
enemy  will  ever  threaten  that  city,  therefore  the  gates  will  be  always  open. 

4  There  will  be  neither  darkness  nor  anything  of  which  night  is  the  emblem.     Our 
varying  positions,  arising  from  the  motion  of  our  globe  in  its  orbit  and  its  diurnal 
revolution,  give  to  the  sun  the  appearance  of  many  daily  and  annual  changes  ;  but 
there  shall  be  no  such  alternation  of  light  and  darkness,  summer  and  winter,  in 
heaven.     The  Being  who  is  the  Sun  of  that  world,  the  Father  of  lights,  is  without 
parallax  (trapaXXayri,  Jas.  i.  17)  or  shadow  of  turning ;  with  Him  are  no  risings, 
no  settings,  no  tropics. 

5  The  prophet   sees  the  nations  of  the  saved,  as  in  long  procession,  entering  in 
through  the  open  gates,  and  bringing,  after  the  example  of  their  kings,  their  glory 
and  honour  into  the  city  ;  but  all  that  pollutes  or  defiles  is  excluded. 

6  A  river  watered  the  garden  of  Eden,  and  there  was  the  tree  of  life  (Gen.  ii. 
9,  10).    The  prophet  Ezekiel  describes  a  stream  which  issued  from  under  the 
threshold  of  the  sanctuary,  which  deepened  and  widened  as  it  flowed,  fertilizing  the 
desert  and  even  sweetening  the  waters  of  the  Dead  Sea.    The  great  fulness  of  life, 
which  the  redeemed  in  heaven  partake  of,  is  represented  by  a  pure  river  of  water 
of  life,  issuing  from  beneath  the  very  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb. 


254  THE   LIFE   AND   WETTINGS    OP    ST.  JOHN. 

was  there  the  tree l  of  life,  which  bare  twelve  manner  of  fruits, 
and  yielded  her  fruit  every  month  :  and  the  leaves  of  the  tree 

3  were  for  the  healing  of  the  nations.2     And  there  shall  be  no 
more  curse  : 3  but  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb  shall 

4  be  in  it ;  and  His   servants   shall  serve  Him  :  and  they  shall 
see   His   face;4    and   His  name  shall  be   in   their   foreheads. 

5  And  there  shall  be  no  night  there ;  and  they  need  no  candle, 
neither  light  of  the  sun  ;  for  the  Lord  God  giveth  them  light : 5 
and  they  shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever. 

The  Epilogue. 

[Ver.  6-21. 

6  And  he  said  unto  me,  These  sayings 6  are  faithful  and  true  : 
and  the  Lord  God  of  the  holy  prophets  sent  His  angel  to  show 
unto   His   servants  the  things  which   must   shortly  be   done. 

7  Behold,  I  come7  quickly :  blessed  is  he  that  keepeth  the  sayings 

8  of  the  prophecy  of  this  book.     And  I  John  saw  these  things, 
and  heard  them.     And  when  I  had  heard  and  seen,  I  fell  down 

1  The  same  life,  or  salvation,  of  which  we  had  an  emblem  in  the  water,  is  here 
imaged  by  the  fruit  of  a  tree  which  produced  twelve  kinds  of  fruits,  and  a  crop  or 
harvest  every  month.    The  tree  of  life  is  the  common  tree  in  the  new  Jerusalem  ; 
it  abounds  everywhere  ;  no  angel  with  double  naming  sword  guards  it. 

2  As  there  will  be  no  imperfection  or  need  of  healing  in  heaven,  the  meaning 
seems  to  be  that  it  was  by  the  leaves  of  that  tree  of  immortality  the  nations  of  the 
saved  were  made  partakers  of  that  life  the  full  development  of  which  is  represented 
by  their  partaking  of  its  fruit  in  heaven.    We  now  have  but  the  leaves  of  the  tree  ; 
we  shall  hereafter  be  admitted  to  partake  of  the  fruit. 

3  There  will  be  no  object  for  the  penal  justice  of  God  ;  the  curse  pronounced  on 
man,  by  reason  of  the  fall,  will  have  passed  for  ever  away. 


4  "  The  bride  eyes  not  her  garments, 

But  her  dear  Bridegroom's  face  ; 
I  will  not  gaze  at  glory, 
But  on  my  King  of  grace  ; 

5  "  As  flowers  need  night's  cool  darkness, 

The  moonlight  and  the  dew ; 
So  Christ,  from  one  who  loved  it, 
His  shining  oft  withdrew : 


Not  at  the  crown  He  gifteth, 
But  on  His  pierced  hand  : 

The  Lamb  is  all  the  glory 
Of  Immanuel's  land." 

And  then,  for  cause  of  absence, 
My  troubled  soul  I  scanned  ; 

But  glory,  shadeless,  shineth 
In  Immanuel's  land." 


6  There  is  clearly  a  reference  to  the  opening  words  of  the  book  (chap.  i.  1), 
"  The  Kevelation  of  Jesus  Christ,"  etc.     The  book  concludes  as  it  begins,  by  declar- 
ing the  things  revealed  in  it  are  from  God  and  are  of  the  highest  importance.     The 
expression,  "which  must  shortly  be  done,"  corresponds  to  "which  must  shortly 
come  to  pass."    The  Apocalypse,  although  part  of  it  related  to  the  distant  future, 
some  of  it  to  scenes  and  events  following  the  end  of  the  world,  was  to  begin  to  be 
immediately  fulfilled. 

7  This  verse  is  a  substantial  repetition  of  chapter  i.  3. 


REVELATION   XXII.  255 

to  worship l  before  the  feet  of  the  angel  which  showed  me  these 

9  things.     Then  saith  he  unto  me,  See  thou  do  it  not :  for  I  am 

thy  fellow  servant,  and  of  thy  brethren  the  prophets,  and  of 

10  them  which  keep  the  sayings  of  this  book  :  worship  God.     And 
He  saith  unto  me,  Seal2  not  the  sayings  of  the  prophecy  of  this 

11  book  :  for  the  time  is  at  hand.     He  that  is  unjust,3  let  him  be 
unjust  still :  and  he  which  is  filthy,  let  him  be  filthy  still :  and 
he  that  is  righteous,  let  him  be  righteous  still :  and  he  that  is 

12  holy,  let  him  be  holy  still.     And,  behold,  I  come  quickly  ;  and 
My  reward  is  with  Me,  to  give  every  man  according  as  his  work4 

13  shall  be.     I  am  Alpha5  and  Omega,  the  beginning  and  the  end, 

14  the  first  and  the  last.     Blessed  are  they  that  do  His  command- 
ments, that  they  may  have  right6  to  the  tree  of  life,  and  may 

15  enter  in  through  the  gates  into  the  city.     For  without  are  dogs,7 
and  sorcerers,  and  whoremongers,  and  murderers,  and  idolaters, 

16  and  whosoever  loveth  and  maketh  a  lie.     I  Jesus 8  have  sent 
Mine  angel  to  testify  unto  you  these  things  in  the  churches.9 
I  am  the  root  and  the  offspring  of  David,10  and  the  bright  and 

1  He  may  have  thought  that  it  was  the  Eedeemer  himself.    He  is  restrained,  and 
the  angel  informs  him  that  he  was  no  more  than  one  of  the  fellow  servants  of  the 
prophets.    As  John  the  apostle  was  the  only  person  who  could  have  been  known 
to  the  Asiatic  churches  in  the  character  of  the  writer  of  this  book,  "I  John" 
clearly  designates  that  apostle  as  the  author. 

2  The  prophet  Daniel  was  directed  to  seal  up  the  prophecy  given  to  him  (Dan. 
xii.  4).    His  prophecy  related  to  the  distant  future,  record  was  to  be  made  and 
secured  for  future  use  ;  on  the  other  hand  the  events  John  predicted,  though  in 
their  development  they  were  to  extend  to  the  distant  future,  were  about  to  begin  to 
be  fulfilled,  and  were  to  be  of  immediate  use  in  consoling  the  church.     The  theme 
of  the  Apocalypse,  the  Lord  cometh,  gives  it  its  transcendent  character. 

3  This  verse  undoubtedly  refers  to  the  everlasting  condition  of  men  when  all  that 
is  revealed  in  this  book  has  been  fulfilled.      That  condition  will  be  fixed  and 
unchangeable. 

4  Komans  ii.  6:  i.e.,  according  as  his  deeds  give  evidence  of  his  being  a  true 
penitent  and  believer,  or  not. 

5  The  same  Being  who  addressed  John  at  the  beginning  (chap.  i.  8-11),  God  in 
Christ,  the  All-in-all. 

6  As  among  His  commandments  faith  in  Christ  is  foremost,  the  right  is  not  in 
their  own  name  and  by  their  own  merit,  but  in  the  name  and  righteousness  of 
Christ. 

7  Dogs  were  unclean  animals  among  the  Jews. 

s  The  Alpha  and  Omega  now  speaks  to  John  in  His  well  known  and  precious 
name,  JESUS. 

9  These  churches  denote  the  seven  in  Asia    Minor  to  which  the   epistles  in 
chapters  ii.  and  iii.  are  addressed,  and  hence  it  appears  the  entire  prophecy  was 
primarily  addressed  to  them. 

10  Isa.  xi.  1 ;  2  Sam.  vii.  16 ;  Ps.  cxxxii.  11,  12  ;  Luke  i.  32,  33. 


256  THE   LIFE  AND   WRITINGS   OP   ST.  JOHN. 

17  morning  star.1      And  the   Spirit  and  the  bride  say,   Come.2 
And  let  him  that  heareth  say,   Come.     And  let  him  that  is 
athirst  come.     And  whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the  water  of 

18  life   freely.     For  I  testify  unto   every  man  that  heareth  the 
words  of  the  prophecy  of  this  book,  If  any  man  shall  add  un- 
to these  things,  God  shall  add3  unto  him  the  plagues  that  are 

19  written  in  this  book  :  and  if  any  man  shall  take  away  from  the 
words  of  the  book  of  this  prophecy,  God  shall  take  away  his 
part  out  of  the  book  of  life,  and  out  of  the  holy  city,  and  from 

20  the  things  which  are  written  in  this  book.     He  which  testifieth 
these  things  saith,  Surely  I  come4  quickly.     Amen.     Even  so, 

21  come,  Lord  Jesus.     The  grace 5  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with 
you  all.     Amen. 

1  The  splendour  and  beauty  of  this  star  make  it  the  object  of  comparison.    It 
succeeds  the  darkness  of  the  night  and  brings  on  the  day.     "  In  each  trial,"  says 
Mr.  Barnes,  "  each  scene  of  sorrow,  let  us  think  of  the  bright  star  of  the  morning 
as  it  rises  on  the  darkness  of  the  night,  emblem  of  our  Saviour  as  He  rises  on  our 
sorrow  and  our  gloom." 

2  A  response  to  Him  who  saith,  "  Behold,  I  come  quickly  "  (ver.  12),  who  styles 
Himself  "  the  bright  and  morning  star."     That  the  appeal  in  the  last  two  clauses 
is  to  men,  there  can  be  no  doubt ;  an  appeal  evidently  suggested  and  enforced  by 
the  address  first  made  to  the  Son  of  God.     This  interpretation  harmonizes  with 
verse  20,  and  is  that  of  Daubuz,  Dr.  S.  Clarke  in  D'Oyly  and  Mant,  Calmet  in 
his  commentary,  Bloomfield,  Professor  Stuart,  Hengstenberg,  etc. 

3  These  words  of  course  have  special  reference  to  this  book  of  the  Apocalypse ; 
although  any  alteration  of  the  sacred  Scriptures  in  any  part  by  addition  or  subtrac- 
tion must  of  course  in  like  manner  be  criminal  in  the  sight  of  God. 

4  We  have  here  the  parting  words  of  Jesus  and  of  John,  Jesus  once  more  re- 
peating those  animating  words  which  contain  the  sum  of  the  prophetic  announce- 
ments of  this  book.    The  "  Even  so,  come"  is  spoken  by  the  Spirit  (ver.  17),  or  by 
John  as  His  organ  and  as  the  representative  of  the  Church,  the  bride.   The  response 
to  the  invitation  has  as  large  a  meaning  as  the  promise. 

5  This  is  the  simplest  form  of  the  benediction,  and  is  the  same  as  that  which 
closes  the  epistle  of  St.  Paul  to  the  Philippians,  and  is  also  found  in  Komans  xvi.  2i. 


CHAPTER  XI. 
TRADITIONARY  HISTORY  CONTINUED. 

LENGTH  OF  HIS  IMPRISONMENT  IN  PATMOS. — HEARS  OF  THE  SIEGE  AND  FALL 
OF  JERUSALEM. — EFFECT  OF  THE  TIDINGS  ON  HIM. — SOLE  SURVIVOR  OF 
THE  APOSTLES. — THE  CHANGES  THAT  HAD  COME  OVER  HIM. — ACCESSION 
OF  TITUS  TO  THE  EMPIRE. — CHARACTER  OF  THIS  EMPEROR. — WAS  ST.  JOHN 
ACQUAINTED  WITH  THE  GREAT  WRITERS  OF  GREECE  AND  HOME  ? — EPIC- 
TETUS,  SENECA,  AND  PLINY. — ST.  PAUL'S  LABOURS  IN  ASIA  MINOR. — THE 
JEWS  OF  ASIA  MINOR. — HEATHEN  PHILOSOPHY. — ST.  JOHN'S  SPECIAL  FIT- 
NESS FOR  THIS  SCENE  OF  LABOUR. — EARLY  ADULTERATION  OF  CHRISTI- 
ANITY.— THE  APOSTLE  VISITS  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES. — ANCIENT  SMYRNA. 

— PERGAMOS. — THYATIRA. SARDIS. — PHILADELPHIA. — LAODICEA. RETURN 

TO     EPHESUS. — ANECDOTE     OF    HIS    PURSUIT     OF   A   YOUNG    ROBBER. — THE 
EBIONITES. DOCET^E. CERINTHIANS.— CO-LABOURERS. 

WE  left  the  apostle  in  Ephesus,  the  chief  city  of  what  was  known  in  Bible 
times  as  "  Asia,"  the  western  part  of  what  we  term  Asia  Minor;  and 
where  shortly  after  his  arrival,  not  far  from  the  year  65,  the  Neronian 
persecution  had  reached  him.  In  Patmos,  to  which  he  was  banished,  he 
had  been  permitted  to  see,  in  the  visions  of  the  Apocalypse,  the  con- 
summation in  perfect  and  everlasting  glory  of  that  kingdom,  in  laying 
the  foundations  of  which,  amid  scenes  of  contest  and  bloodshed,  he  had 
taken,  and  was  yet  to  take,  so  important  a  share. 

As  to  the  length1  of  his  imprisonment,  we  have  no  reliable  means  of 
information.  We  cannot  suppose  it  continued  longer  than  the  perse- 
cution under  which  it  occurred ;  and  the  persecutor  himself  died  in  the 
middle  of  June,  A.D.  68.  At  his  release  he  probably  returned  at  once 
to  Ephesus.  Clement  of  Alexandria  says  2  that  at  the  death  of  the 
tyrant  John  returned  to  Ephesus  from  the  island  Patmos.  The  perse- 
cution was  then  raging  in  his  native  land.  The  times  he  had  foretold 
as  at  hand,  and  the  things  shortly  to  come  to  pass,  had  commenced. 
Tidings  would  no  doubt  reach  him,  from  time  to  time,  of  the  woes  of 
Palestine,  and  of  the  progress  of  the  siege  of  Jerusalem.  At  length  he 
hears  of  the  fall  of  the  city,  and  the  destruction  of  the  temple,  in  accom- 
plishment of  the  Lord's  and  his  own  predictions.  It  is  not  impossible  that 

1  The  Chronicon  Paschale  says  he  lived  in  Ephesus  nine  years  before  his  exile, 
and  spent  fifteen  years  in  Patmos. 

2  Quis  Salvus  Dives,  §  42,  quoted  by  Eusebius,  Hist.  Eccl.,  iii.  23.' 

S 


258  THE    LIFE    AN1>   WEITINGS    OP    ST.  JOHN. 

he  may  have  learned  from  some  who  escaped  how  the  faithful  witnesses 
(who,  as  we  have  supposed,1  were  two  of  his  brother  apostles)  prophesied 
in  the  streets  of  that  devoted  city  until  they  were  slain,  and  their  dead 
bodies  permitted  to  lie  unburied  until  God  Himself  resuscitated  them 
and  took  them  up  to  heaven.  Sad  indeed  must  have  been  the  recital 
of  the  woes  and  horrors  which  attended  the  siege  and  overthrow  of 
Jerusalem,  to  one  who  had  known  and  loved  it  so  well.  Of  all  the 
stately  city,  its  palaces,  fortresses,  temple,  nothing  remained  except 
the  towers  of  Phasaelus,  Mariamne,  and  Hippicus,  and  part  of  the 
western  wall,  left  as  a  defence  of  the  Roman  camp.  Not  only  was  it 
depopulated,  but  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  adjacent  districts  for  a 
wide  distance.  The  political  existence  of  the  nation  was  annihilated, 
and  never  since  has  it  been  numbered  among  the  states  of  the  world. 

We  have  now  arrived  at  that  point  in  the  history  when  St.  JoHn  was 
the  only  or  almost  the  sole  survivor  of  the  apostles.  He  could  not 
have  been  far  from  65  years  of  age.  James,  and  Peter,  and  Paul  were 
po  more.  If  Peter  survived,  or  any  of  the  others,  it  must  have  been 
in  extreme  old  age,  or  in  some  remote  quarter  of  the  globe  ;  and  John 
must  have  been  very  soon  left  entirely  alone,  to  continue  some  score  and 
a  half  of  years  longer,  engaged  in  settling  the  foundations  and  extending 
.the  borders  of  the  Christian  Church.  His  eye  was  not  dimmed,  nor 
his  natural  force  abated ;  and  for  at  least  the  period  of  still  another 
human  generation  he  was  to  be  the  acknowledged  leader  of  the  Christ- 
ian Church.  If  hitherto  he  had  seemed  to  be  less  prominent  than 
Peter  and  Paul,  "  if,"  as  has  been  said,  "  Peter  was  appointed  by  the 
Lord  to  lay  the  foundation  of  the  apostolic  church,  and  Paul  to  build 
the  main  structure  thereon,  John,  the  apostle  of  completion,  was  to 
erect  the  dome,  whose  top  should  lose  itself  in  the  glory  of  the  new 
heaven."  2 

"Faraway  were  the  scenes  of  his  youth  and  the  graves  of  his  fathers. 
The  homes  of  his  childhood  were  to  know  him  no  more  for  ever,  and 
rejoiced  now  in  the  light  of  the  countenances  of  strangers,  or  lay  in 
blackening  desolation  beneath  the  brand  of  a  wasting  invasion.  The 
waters  and  the  mountains  were  there  still,  they  are  there  now;  but 
that  which  to  him  constituted  all  their  reality  was  gone  then  as  utterly 
as  now.  The  ardent  friends,  the  dear  brother,  the  faithful  father,  the 
fondly  ambitious  mother,  who  made  up  this  little  world  of  life  and 
joy  and  hope !  Where  were  they  ?  All  were  gone ;  even  his  own  for- 
mer self  was  gone  too,  and  the  joys,  the  hopes,  the  thoughts,  the  views 
of  those  early  days,  were  buried  as  deeply  as  the  friends  of  his  youth, 
and  far  more  irrecoverably.  Cut  off  thus  utterly  from  everything  that 

1  See  Note,  Eev.  xi.  12,  p.  213. 

2  Schaff,  Hist,  of  the  Church,  i.,  p.  78. 


TITUS. 


THE    EMPEROR   TITUS.  259 

once  excited  the  earthly  and  merely  human  emotions  within  him,  the 
whole  world  was  like  a  desert  or  a  home,  according  as  he  found  in  it 
communion  with  Grod  and  work  for  his  remaining  energies  in  the  cause 
of  Christ.  Wherever  lie  went  he  bore  about  with  him  his  resources  of 
enjoyment ;  his  home  was  within  himself ;  the  friends  of  his  youth  and 
manhood  were  still  before  him  in  the  ever  fresh  images  of  their  glorious 
examples ;  the  brother  of  his  heart  was  near  him  always,  and  nearest 
now,  when  the  persecutions  of  imperial  tyranny  seemed  to  draw  him 
towards  a  sympathetic  participation  in  the  pains  and  glories  of  his 
bloody  death ; l  the  Lord  of  his  life,  the  Author  of  his  hopes,  the  Guide 
of  his  youth,  the  Cherisher  of  his  spirit  was  over  and  around  him  ever, 
with  the  consolations  of  His  promised  presence,  *  with  him  always,  even 
to  the  end  of  the  world.'  "  2 

The  year  79  was  the  date  of  the  accession  of  Titus,  the  conqueror  of 
Jerusalem,  to  the  imperial  authority.  He  had  shared  already  in  the 
cares  of  state  with  his  father.  Born  in  the  year  40,  he  was  brought 
up  in  the  imperial  household  of  Claudius,  with  Britannicus,  under  the 
same  instructors,  and  is  said  to  have  been  an  accomplished  scholar. 
At  the  siege  of  Jerusalem  he  showed  the  talents  of  a  great  commander. 
It  is  said  that,  when  associated  with  Vespasian  in  the  government,  his 
conduct  failed  to  inspire  the  people  with  confidence,  who  were  rather 
disposed  to  look  upon  him  as  likely  to  be  another  Nero.  But  the  first 
year  of  his  sole  reign  dissipated  their  fears.  He  soon  won  the  title  of 
"  The  Delight  of  Mankind,"  doing  all  that  he  could  to  promote  the 
happiness  of  his  people  and  to  relieve  thdrn  in  times  of  distress.  To 
him  is  attributed  the  saying,  on  recollecting  that  he  had  given  away 
nothing  in  charity  during  the  day,  Perdidi  diem,  "  I  have  lost  a  day." 
The  public  calamities  that  marked  his  short  reign  afforded  repeated 
opportunities  to  test  his  generous  disposition.  In  the  first  year  of  his 
accession  to  supreme  power  the  famous  eruption  of  Vesuvius  occurred, 
in  which  Pliny  the  Elder  perished,  and  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum 
were  buried  beneath  showers  of  ashes.  Titus  sent  money,  and  applied 
the  property  of  those  who  had  been  destroyed,  leaving  no  heirs  to  their 
estates,  to  repair  the  injured  towns  and  relieve  the  wants  of  impover- 
ished survivors.  He  went  himself  to  survey  the  ravages,  and  during 
his  absence  a  disastrous  fire,  which  continued  three  days  and  three 
nights,  broke  out  in  Rome.  The  emperor  declared  that  he  should  con- 
sider the  loss  his  own,  and  applied  his  own  property  to  repair  it,  even 
selling  the  decorations  of  his  palace  to  raise  the  money.  He  completed 
the  great  Colosseum,  commenced  by  his  father,  which  remains  one  of 
the  best  preserved  of  the  ruins  that  connect  modern  with  ancient 
Rome ;  and  among  the  mouldering  reliefs  of  the  arch  raised  to  him, 
1  Acts  xii.  2.  3  D.  F.  Bacon's  Lives  of  the  Apostles,  pp.  341,  342. 


260  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

still  standing  at  Rome,  the  traveller  may  trace  the  representations 
of  the  spoils  taken  from  the  Jewish  Temple,  the  censers,  the  silver 
trumpets,  the  golden  altar  and  candlestick,  and  even  the  procession  of 
captive  Jews. 

That  the  apostle  John  ever  became  familiar  with  the  works  of  the 
great  writers  of  Greece  and  Rome  (that  is,  ever  became  what  is  known 
as  a  classical  scholar),  although  it  is  evident  he  became  a  thorough 
master  of  the  Greek  language,  it  would  not  be  safe  to  affirm.  Nor 
would  it  do  to  assert  positively  that  any  of  these  writers  received 
knowledge  of  the  doctrines  of  Jesus,  or  of  the  writings  of  the  apostles. 
Among  those  who  may  be  mentioned  as  contemporary  with  John  are 
the  great  names  of  Plutarch,  Epictetns,  Seneca,  Pliny  the  naturalist, 
Pliny  the  Younger,  and  Quintilian.  Whether  any  of  these  men  were 
ever  brought  into  contact  with  John,  or  Peter,  or  Paul,  cannot  be 
affirmed.  But  certain  it  is  that  the  morals  of  several  of  them,  as  en- 
forced in  their  writings,  e.g.  of  Plutarch,  Epictetus,  Seneca,  and  Pliny 
the  Younger,  are  far  in  advance  of  heathen  writers  of  any  preceding 
age.  The  moral  maxims  of  Seneca  have  been  often  compared  with  those 
found  in  the  Gospels,  and  a  certain  similarity  traced  between  them. 
And  it  is  not  difficult  to  understand  how  an  intelligent  and  studious 
man  might  obtain  some  knowledge  of  the  truths  that  fell  from  the  lips 
of  Jesus,  and  had  been  proclaimed  far  and  wide  by  the  apostles.  That 
such  a  man  might  have  some  knowledge  of  the  Septuagint,  which  had 
been  accessible  to  the  heathen  world  for  three  hundred  years,  is  more 
than  probable.  The  resemblance  between  many  passages  in  Seneca 
and  passages  found  in  the  Bible,  and  especially  in  the  New  Testament, 
is  not  altogether  imaginary ;  nor  is  it  necessary  to  suppose  that  it  was 
altogether  an  "  accidental  circumstance."  It  is  not  impossible  that  he 
may  have  had  some  acquaintance  with  Paul,  although  the  letters  to 
Paul,  which  are  printed  in  the  old  editions  of  his  works,  are  un- 
doubtedly apocryphal.  The  Gallic,  before  whose  judgment  seat  Paul 
was  brought  at  Corinth,  who  was  proconsul  of  Achaia  under  Claudius, 
was  a  brother  of  Seneca ;  and  through  him  it  is  not  improbable  that 
he  may  have  acquired  some  knowledge  of  the  apostles  and  their 
doctrine.  All  that  is  really  valuable  for  correctness  and  purity  of 
sentiment  in  ancient  literature  is.  probably  more  indebted  to  the 
literature  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  than  is  commonly  supposed. 
The  writings  of  Moses,  of  David  and  the  prophets,  of  the  evangelists 
and  apostles,  could  not  be  in  the  world,  without  leaving  their  impress 
on  its  conscience  and  its  intellect.  In  fact,  a  traditionary  light  of  the 
true  revelation  and  of  the  true  history  of  the  primeval  ages,  as  it  is 
contained  in  the  sacred  Scriptures,  glimmers  along  the  whole  track  of 
ancient  pagan  literature. 


JEWS   OP   ASIA   MINOR.      HEATHEN   PHILOSOPHY.  261 

The  greater  part  of  the  converts  to  Christianity  at  Ephesus,  under 
the  labours  of  Paul,  appear  to  have  been  from  among  the  Gentiles 
rather  than  the  Jews.  Indeed,  we  are  expressly  told  that  after  three 
months  of  strenuous  effort  among  the  latter  in  the  synagogue,  on 
account  of  their  hardness  and  unbelief  he  turned  from  them,  and  devoted 
the  remainder  of  his  stay  principally  to  the  instruction  of  the  Gentiles, 
disputing  daily  in  the  school  of  one  Tyrannus,  who  kept  one  of  the 
schools  for  instruction  in  philosophy  and  rhetoric  so  common  at  that 
period ;  and  that  "  all  they  which  dwelt  in  Asia  heard  the  word  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  both  Jews  and  Greeks." 1  It  was  at  this  time  (probably 
from  A.D.  54  to  56)  that  the  churches  addressed  in  the  Apocalypse  as 
the  seven  churches  of  Asia  were  established.  John,  who  had  been  so 
largely  devoted  hitherto  to  the  ministry  of  the  circumcision,  was 
specially  fitted  to  resume  Christian  labour  among  the  Jews.  The 
Jewish  community  had  doubtless  increased  in  consequence  of  the 
disasters  that  had  come  upon  their  own  land ;  and  these  disastrous 
changes  may  have  tended  to  soften  their  prejudices,  or  to  open  the  way 
for  a  more  dispassionate  consideration  of  the  claims  of  the  gospel.  No 
wonder  if  the  glories  of  the  ancient  covenant  had  seemed  to  them  to 
have  passed  away  with  their  city  and  temple.  Perhaps  now  they  would 
relinquish  their  notions  of  a  temporal  kingdom,  and  would  listen  to 
what  might  be  told  them  of  a  kingdom  not  of  this  world ;  and  could 
"be  trained  to  look  for  a  spiritual  temple,  a  city  eternal  in  the 
heavens,  whose  lasting  foundations  were  laid  by  no  mortal  hand  for 
the  heathen  to  sweep  away  in  unholy  triumph,  but  whose  Builder 
and  Maker  and  Guardian  is  God.  Thus  prepared  by  the  mournful 
consummation  of  their  country's  ruin  for  the  reception  of  a  pure  faith, 
the  condition  of  the  disconsolate  Jews  must  have  appeared  in  the 
highest  degree  interesting  to  the  apostle  John,"  and  encouraging  to  his 
labours  for  their  spiritual  good.  And  we  may  fairly  presume  that 
under  these  more  favourable  circumstances,  where  Paul  seems  to  have 
met  with  comparatively  little  success,  John  was  the  instrument  of 
leading  many  to  the  knowledge  of  Christ,  and  of  extending  His 
influence  from  so  favourable  a  centre  far  and  wide  among  the  twelve 
tribes  scattered  abroad. 

But  Asia  Minor,  of  which  Ephesus  was  the  capital,  was  one  of  the 
chief  seats  of  ancient  heathen,  philosophy ;  all  the  germs  of  what  is 
known  as  gnosticism  were  already  in  existence  there.  It  was  the 
theatre  where,  according  to  Chrysostom,  "  all  the  sects  of  Grecian 
philosophy  cultivated  their  science."  "  There,"  adds  this  eloquent 
Christian  father,  "  John  flashed  out  in  the  midst  of  the  foe,  clearing 

1  Acts  xix.  8-10  ;  1  Cor.  xvi.  8,  9. 


262  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF    ST.  JOHN. 

away  their  darkness,  and  storming  the  very  citadel  of  demons."  1  It 
was  not  only  renowned  for  its  philosophy,  its  temple  and  worship  of 
Diana,  but  for  its  skill  in  the  use  of  sorcery  and  magic.  The  books  of 
those  who  used  curious  arts,  which  were  burned  after  the  owners  were 
converted  under  the  preaching  of  Paul,  were  valued  at  50,000  pieces  of 
silver.2 

This  was  to  be  the  scene  of  the  apostle's  future  labours.  Here  in  the 
synagogues  and  Grecian  schools  he  was  to  make  known  the  truth  as  it 
is  in  Jesus.  Here  he  was  to  go  in  and  out  for  many  years  as  the  sole 
surviving  representative,  in  the  Christian  world,  of  the  apostles.  From 
his  residence  in  Babylon,  long  known  through  succeeding  centuries  as 
the  great  eastern  metropolitan  centre  of  Hebrew  theology  and  literature, 
where  the  transplanted  stocks  of  rabbinical  learning  grew  up  and 
flourished  in  new  luxuriance,  John  probably  derived  peculiar  advan- 
tages through  the  facilities  thereby  afforded  him  for  acquiring  a  know- 
ledge of  those  things  which,  in  the  course  of  time,  became  the  earliest 
occasion  of  error  and  sectarian  division  in  the  Christian  churches,  calling 
on  the  last  of  the  apostles  for  the  great  concluding  work  of  his  life, 
the  noble  record  of  his  testimony  against  the  combination  of  Hebrew 
theological  subtleties  and  oriental  mysticisms  with  the  pure  simplicity 
of  the  faith  of  Jesus.  "  In  this  city,  and  in  the  farther  East  also, 
must  have  been  rife  both  among  Chaldeans  and  Persians  that  wild 
oriental  philosophy,  which  had  so  large  a  share  in  the  early  corruptions 
of  Christianity,  and  which,  floating  westward,  soon  obscured  the  first 
light  of  the  apostolic  revelation  to  the  churches  of  Hellenic  Asia  ;  and 
afterwards,  notwithstanding  the  evident  opposition  of  the  last  written 
testimony  of  the  apostles,  continued  under  the  high  name  of  the  GNOSIS 
or  science,  to  develop,  during  the  second  century,  under  a  vast  variety 
of  forms,  dividing  the  churches  and  perplexing  the  teachers.  With  the 
original  source  of  these  dreamy  mysticisms  John  must  have  had  good 
opportunities  of  becoming  familiar ;  and  the  remarkable  aptness  and 
learning  on  these  points  which  his  writings  show  must  have  been 
owing  to  the  circumstances  of  his  long  eastern  residence  at  that  time 
of  his  life  when  mental  power  was  in  its  fullest  vigour.  The  fact  that 
some  of  these  subjects  had  been  pursued  by  him,  with  actual  study  and 
deep  attention,  appears  from  the  profound,  extensive,  and  familiar 
knowledge  which  his  prophetic  writings  display  of  Jewish,  apocryphal, 
cabbalistic,  and  talmudic  lore."  3 

St.  John  found  all  the  conditions  for  an  adulteration  of  Christianity 
with  foreign  elements  existing  at  Ephesus  and  in  the  other  great  cities 

1  Horn,  in  Joan.,  Lampe,  Prolegom. 

2  Acts  xix.  19. 

3  Lives  of  the  Apostles,  by  D.  Francis  Bacon,  p.  330. 


HE    VISITS   THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES.  263 

of  the  province,  in  Jewish  and  heathen  superstitions  and  magic.  Paul 
had  found  it,  and  he  distinctly  characterizes  it  in  one  of  his  letters  to 
Timothy,  whom  he  had  left  as  an  evangelist  at  Ephesus,  as  "gnosis," 
but  falsely  so  called.1  He  referred  to  the  insipid  fables  and  traditions 
of  the  Jews  respecting  patriarchs,  angels,  genealogical  investigations, 
subtle  questions  of  the  law,  and  allegorical  interpretations  of  Scripture 
narratives.  The  heresies  that  arose  from  heathenism  consisted  essen- 
tially in  antinomianism  and  a  licentious  freedom  of  spirit.  The  heathen 
as  well  as  Jewish  heretics  encouraged  fanatical  asceticism.  We  have 
seen  John  already  brought  in  contact  with  gnosticism  in  Simon  Magus, 
who  has  been  regarded,  at  least  by  the  tradition  of  the  Church  fathers, 
as  the  patriarch  of  all  heretics,  especially  of  the  heathen  Gnostics. 
He  was  now,  during  the  rest  of  his  life,  particularly  the  last  thirty  years 
of:  the  first  century,  to  stand  face  to  face  with  a  heresy  which  was 
to  bring  forth  fruit  so  pernicious  in  the  second. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  St.  John  had  time  to  make  the  circuit  of 
the  seven  churches,  and  was  well  known  to  them  in  his  apostolic  office 
and  authority,  before  he  was  directed  to  address  to  them  the  epistles 
and  visions  of  the  Apocalypse,  i.e.  before  his  imprisonment  in  Patmos. 
If  he  arrived  in  Asia  Minor  in  the  year  65  or  66,  this  would  afford 
ample  time  to  have  made  this  tour,  and  have  seen  these  churches  face 
to  face,  before  these  visions  were  granted  to  him.  As  the  heat  in 
summer  is  excessive  and  the  sun  dangerous,  and  the  cold  in  winter  would 
render  the  journey  fatiguing  and  unpleasant,  the  journey  would  pro- 
bably be  made  in  March  and  April,  or  in  October  and  November ;  or  he 
may  have  made  part  of  it  in  the  spring,  and  the  return  journey  to 
Ephesus  in  the  autumn.  The  apostle  has  made  preparations.  It  is  a 
long  and  toilsome  way  that  lies  before  him  ;  but  he  has  been  inured  to 
hardships  and  exposure  by  the  experience  of  former  years.  There  are 
streams  to  be  forded,  which  after  rains  are  swollen,  and  bridges  are 
rare.  There  are  mountains  to  be  climbed,  although  much  of  the  distance 
between  Ephesus  and  Smyrna,  where  the  railway  now  runs,  is  flat. 
The  ancient  road  appears  to  have  run  first  in  a  north-easterly  direction 
up  the  valley  of  the  Cayster,  and  then  north-westerly  till  it  entered  the 
valley  of  the  Hermus,  near  the  mouth  of  which  Smyrna  was  situated. 
The  distance  by  railroad  is  forty-eight  miles ;  by  the  common  road  it 
must  have  been  considerably  greater.  It  occupied  the  same  site  and 
nearly  the  same  extent  of  ground  as  the  modern  city.  The  objects  that 
would  most  attract  the  attention  of  a  visitor  would  be  the  theatre  and 
the  stadium,  its  form  hollowed  into  the  northern  slope  of  Mount  Pagus, 
and  the  temple  built  in  honour  of  Tiberius,  for  the  erection  of  which 
Smyrna  had  successfully  competed  with  the  Ionian  cities  before  the 

1  1  Tim.  vi.  20. 


264  THE    LIFE   AND    WRITINGS    OP    ST.  JOHN. 

Roman  senate.  On  the  east  it  possesses  a  fine  plain,  and  all  along  the 
sea  coast  are  scattered  the  most  picturesque  situations  for  villas  and 
the  residences  of  its  princely  merchants.  The  scenery,  in  every  direc- 
tion, and  the  climate,  are  the  finest  in  the  world.  It  is  scarcely  possible 
John  could  have  found  Polycarp  already  in  charge  of  the  church  at 
Smyrna ;  for  when  about  the  year  167  Polycarp  was  called  to  suffer 
martyrdom  he  said,  "Eighty  and  six  years  have  I  served  Christ," 
which  goes  no  farther  back  than  A.D.  81.  It  is  not  improbable,  how- 
ever, that  before  the  apostle's  death  Polycarp  had  by  him  been 
appointed  the  bishop  of  that  church. 

St.  John  continues  his  journey  to  the  north,  some  sixty  miles 
farther,  and  more  than  a  hundred  from  Ephesus,  to  Pergamos, 
on  the  river  Cetius.  Before  crossing  the  Hermus,  which  makes 
a  wide  detour  from  its  westerly  course  to  the  south  in  reaching  the 
sea,  he  passes  the  ancient  Temnos,  where,  according  to  Strabo,  a 
statue  of  Venus  was  to  be  seen.  The  road  gradually  ascends  the 
valley  of  the  Hermus,  and  then  winds  up  and  down  the  hills  for  about 
two  hours.  Here  and  there  a  village  is  passed ;  the  road  runs  close  by 
a  small  lake,  then  up  and  down  again  among  the  hills,  and  for  a  long 
while  by  the  sea  coast.  The  country  has  a  wild  aspect,  rocky  and 
wooded,  and  is  often  (as  it  probably  was  in  the  days  of  John)  infested 
by  bands  of  robbers,  who  hide  themselves  in  the  bushes,  and  surprise 
travellers  when  passing  in  small  companies.  The  river  Ca'icus  is 
crossed  (at  the  present  time  by  a  long  bridge),  and  the  road  becomes 
tortuous  and  rocky,  and  at  length  the  Cetius  is  reached,  and  Per- 
gamos, built  of  white  marble,  is  seen  perched  on  the  summit  of  a 
mountain.  It  was  a  city  dating  from  the  most  remote  antiquity.  The 
Romans,  after  it  came  under  their  rule,  took  great  pride  in  decorating 
it.  Here,  in  addition  to  the  temple  of  ^sculapius,  which  was  held  in 
the  highest  veneration,  were  temples,  one  in  honour  of  Ceesar  and  one 
of  Rome  itself.  These  objects  are  not  without  interest  to  the  apostle, 
although  his  chief  business  is  to  visit  the  Christians  and  preach  the 
gospel  to  Jews  and  Gentiles. 

But  the  time  comes  for  him  to  move  forward  again,  and  he  starts  for 
his  next  station,  Thyatira,  lying  in  a  south-easterly  direction,  at  a 
distance  of  some  fifteen  hours  of  travel.  For  a  while  the  road  winds 
along  the  banks  of  the  river.  The  fine  plain  of  Pergamos  is  crossed, 
and  for  a  long  distance  its  prominent  acropolis  is  kept  in  view.  The 
traveller  continues  in  nearly  the  same  direction,  along  the  sides  of  the 
mountains,  keeping  the  valley  of  the  Caicus  on  his  left,  over  which  the 
view  extends  towards  Mount  Ida,  and  the  country  has  a  cheerful 
aspect.  The  road  at  length  passes  near  the  sources  of  the  Caicus,  and 
winding  among  the  hills  descends  to  the  plain,  and  in  about  two  hours 


SARDIS,    PHILADELPHIA,    AND    LAODICEA.  265 

reaches  Thyatira.  In  splendour  and  wealth  it  did  not  compare  with 
the  other  cities  in  Asia  Minor,  which  it  was  the  object  of  the  apostle's 
tour  to  visit ;  but  it  was,  and  has  always  been,  distinguished  for  the 
industry  and  thrift  of  its  people.  It  had  many  important  buildings, 
and  some  of  the  numerous  fountains  in  its  streets  still  bear  Greek  in- 
scriptions. From  time  immemorial  it  had  been  famous  for  the  dyeing 
trade.1  It  occupies  the  same  picturesque  position  as  of  old,  and 
probably,  when  John  visited  it,  presented  the  same  inviting  market  for 
the  products  of  the  interior  and  the  same  extensive  bazaars  as  now. 

The  apostle  is  now  on  the  road  again,  which  for  some  time  continues 
on  the  banks  of  the  river  Lycus,  which  flows  into  the  Hyllus,  one  of 
the  affluents  of  the  Hermus,  and  then  ascends  and  winds  among  the 
low  hillocks.  He  continues  in  a  nearly  southerly  direction,  and  crosses 
the  whole  valley  of  the  Hermus,  and  arrives  at  Sardis,  once  the  proud 
capital  of  Lydia.  He  found  it  a  city  flourishing  and  prosperous,  and 
of  -great  magnificence,  notwithstanding  the  vicissitudes  through  which, 
it  had  passed.  Here  could  be  seen  the  temple  of  Cybele,  situated  at 
the  back  of  the  acropolis,  on  the  high  banks  of  the  Pactolus.  Having 
accomplished  the  object  of  his  visit,  the  apostle  is  moving  again ;  his 
course  is  now  more  to  the  east,  but  still  southerly.  It  lies  along  the 
valley  of  the  Hermus,  and  at  length  takes  an  almost  eastward  direc- 
tion, keeping  on  the  right  the  range  of  Mount  Tmolus.  Philadelphia 
is  now  reached,  on  the  north-eastern  slope  of  the  range  of  Mount 
Tmolus,  on  a  site  commanding  the  entrance  to  the  valley  of  the 
Meander  on  the  one  side  and  of  the  Hermus  on  the  other.  Although 
it  was  never  a  city  of  the  first  class,  it  is  still  inhabited,  covering  the 
same  ground  and  surrounded  by  the  same  walls  as  of  old.  Here  the 
apostle  found  a  body  of  Christians  who  had  embraced  the  doctrine  of 
Christ  with  zeal  and  earnestness,  and  who  courageously  maintained 
their  right  to  the  free  exercise  of  their  religious  duties  and  worship. 
His  journey  next  takes  him  to  Laodicea,  and  his  course  is  again  more 
nearly  south-easterly,  and  lies  at  the  start  along  the  north-eastern  side 
of  Mount  Tmolus.  The  road  is  in  some  parts  bad  and  rocky,  with 
many  windings  up  and  down,  but  picturesque.  It  requires  two  days 
to  accomplish  the  journey.  He  passes  close  to  ancient  Tripolis,  crosses 
the  Meeander,  and  having  reached  Hierapolis  his  course  lies  directly 
south  to  Laodicea,  in  full  sight  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Lycus.2  He 
finds  himself  in  a  city  in  the  midst  of  great  wealth  and  grandeur,  as 
the  remains  of  its  vast  stadium,  theatres,  and  gymnasium  silently  but 
most  impressively  testify.  Colossea  (or  its  site),  to  which  one  of  the 
epistles  of  Paul  is  addressed,  is  about  three  hours'  ride  to  the  east  of 
Laodicea.  There  seems  to  have  been  a  most  intimate  association 
1  Homer,  Iliad,  iv.  141.  2  In  the  province  of  Phrygia. 


266'  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

between  the  churches  at  Hierapolis,  Laodicea,  and  Colossas,  or  the 
Christians  residing  in  these  places,  at  the  time  the  apostle  Paul  wrote 
to  the  Colossians,  for  he  addresses  them  together.1  When  John 
arrived  there  they  would  seem  to  have  been  united  in  one  church. 
Not  long  after  Paul  addressed  the  Colossians,  their  city,  as  we  learn 
from  Eusebius,  was  destroyed  by  an  earthquake.  This  was  in  the 
ninth  year  of  Nero,  some  two  years  before  John  arrived  in  Asia  Minor. 
He  therefore  may  have  found  Philemon  and  Onesimus  2  and  Archippus 
and  Epaphras  3  at  Laodicea. 

His  course  back  to  Ephesus,  whence  he  started,  lay  almost  directly 
west.  The  road  at  the  commencement  is  flat  and  very  good,  keeping  the 
valley  of  the  Masander,  the  river  being  first  on  the  right  and  then  on 
the  left.  It  passes  Tralles  and  Magnesia,  which  subsequently  became 
seats  of  flourishing  churches.  After  it  crosses  the  Mseander  it  lies  all 
the  way  from  west  to  east,  with  the  hill  range  of  Messogis  on  the  right 
and  the  river  on  the  left. 

How  often  the  apostle  may  have  crossed  these  mountains  and  rivers 
and  plains  in  his  long  life  we  know  not.  But  his  care  of  the  churches 
and  his  missionary  excursions,  no  doubt,  frequently  made  it  necessary. 
It  was  probably  on  one  of  these  excursions,  perhaps  at  Pergamos,  that 
as  a  tradition,  which  appears  to  be  genuine  and  authentic,  relates, — ob- 
serving a  young  man  in  the  congregation  he  was  visiting,  to  whom  he 
was  powerfully  drawn,  he  turned  to  the  minister  and  said,  "I  commit 
him  to  you  before  Christ  and  the  congregation."  The  minister  accepted 
the  charge,  took  the  youth  home,  and  finally  baptized  him.  The  young 
man  subsequently  fell  into  bad  company,  became  dissipated  and  lavish 
in  his  habits,  and,  renouncing  all  hope  in  the  grace  of  God,  joined  a 
band  of  robbers  and  became  their  captain.  When,  some  time  after, 
the  apostle  again  visited  that  city,  having  attended  to  other  matters, 
he  made  inquiry  of  the  minister  for  the  young  man  he  had  committed 
to  his  charge.  Sighing  heavily,  with  tears,  the  minister  replied,  "  He 
is  dead ! "  "  Dead  ?  "  said  John ;  "  in  what  way  did  he  die  ?  "  "  He  is 
dead  to  God,"  answered  the  minister;  "  he  became  godless,  and  finally 
a  robber,  and  is  now  with  his  companions  in  the  fastnesses  of  the 
mountains."  The  apostle,  on  hearing  this,  takes  a  horse  and  guide 
and  hastens  to  the  spot  where  the  band  of  robbers  was  to  be  found. 
He  was  seized,  as  he  expected  to  be,  by  one  of  the  band,  and  carried 
into  the  presence  of  their  captain.  Their  captain,  recognising  John  as 
he  approached,  attempted  to  flee  ;  but  John  hastened  after  him  with  all 
speed,  crying,  "  Why  do  you  flee  from  me  ?  Do  not  be  afraid.  If 
needs  be,  I  will  gladly  die  for  you  as  Christ  died  for  us.  I  will  lay 

1  Col.  iv.  13-16.  2  Philemon  12. 

3  Col.  i.  7,  iv.  12. 


ERRORS    MET    WITH.       CO-LABOURERS.  267 

down  my  life  for  you.  Stop  !  stop !  Believe,  Christ  hath  sent  me." 
He  stopped,  threw  away  his  arms,  and  began  to  tremble  and  weep 
bitterly.  The  apostle  finally  led  him  back  to  the  Church,  and  he 
became  an  example  of  sincere  repentance  and  genuine  conversion. 

He  would  meet  wherever  he  went,  especially  after  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem,  Ebionites,  Jews  who  professed  themselves  Christians  but 
could  not  emancipate  themselves  from  their  former  opinions,  insisting 
on  the  continued  obligation  of  the  ceremonial  law.  The  Gnostics  he 
encountered  both  among  the  Jews  and  Gentiles.  St.  Paul  had  found 
Judaizing  Gnostics,  or  Essenic  Judaists,  at  Colossae ;  see  the  second 
chapter  of  his  Epistle  to  the  Colossians.  They  held  that  Christ  was 
one  of  the  highest  emanations  from  God ;  and  that,  although  it  was 
necessary  He  should  appear  in  fashion  as  a  man,  it  wasi  impossible  He 
should  become  a  real  man.  Some  held  that  His  human  form  was  a 
phantom,  a  mere  appearance,  without  substance  or  reality,  and  hence 
were  called  Docetas.  Others  admitted  that  He  had  a  real  body,  but 
denied  that  it  was  material.  Others,  as  the  Cerinthians,  held  that 
Jesus  and  Christ  were  distinct.  Cerinthus  appeared  subsequently  to 
the  apostle  Paul's  day,  being  contemporary  with  St.  John  in  his  later 
years.  In  his  views  of  the  validity  of  the  law  and  the  millennial 
kingdom,  he  was  strongly  Judaistic ;  but  in  respect  to  the  creation  he 
was  a  Gnostic,  holding  that  the  world  was  created  by  some  being  sub- 
ordinate to  God.  In  respect  to  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  he  held  that  the 
heavenly  Christ  descended  upon  Him  at  His  baptism,  and  imparted  to 
Him  the  power  of  working  miracles  and  revealing  the  knowledge  of 
God,  but  forsook  Him  when  His  enemies  led  Him  away  to  be  crucified, 
to  rejoin  Him  only  at  His  second  coming.  In  the  later  writings  of 
John  allusions  are  clearly  discernible  to  the  errors  of  this  false  teacher.1 

The  friends,  associates,  and  co-labourers  of  the  apostle  in  Asia 
Minor  were  such  men  as  Epaphras,  Gaius,  Demetrius,  Onesimus,  and 
those  earliest  fathers  in  the  Christian  Church,  Polycarp,  Ignatius  of 
Antioch,  and  Papias. 

1  1  John  ii.  18-23,  iv.  1-3  ;  2  John  7. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

ST.   JOHN  WEITES   THE    FOURTH   GOSPEL.    DATE,   DESIGN, 
AND  CONTENTS. 

UNANIMOUS  TESTIMONY  OF  ANTIQUITY  THAT  IT  WAS  WRITTEN  AT  EPHESUS 
A.D.  85  OR  86. — PURITY  OP  THE  GREEK. — WRITTEN  AT  A  DISTANCE  FROM 
JUD.EA. WRITER  HAD  CEASED  TO  BE  A  JEW,  AND  HAD  BECOME  COSMO- 
POLITAN.— COMPARED  WITH  SYNOPTISTS  WRITES  MORE  IN  THE  HISTORICAL 
VEIN. ADOPTS  THE  ROMAN  HOROLOGY  THROUGHOUT. —  ST.  JOHN'S  AUTHOR- 
SHIP NEVER  QUESTIONED  TILL  RECENTLY. — STRAUSS  DENIED  ITS  GENUINE- 
NESS.— THE  TUBINGEN  SCHOOL,  ETC. — JOHANNEAN  AUTHORSHIP  AS  STATED 
BY  CANON  LIDDON. — NOT  A  MERE  SUPPLEMENT  TO  THE  OTHER  THREE 

GOSPELS. ITS    DESIGN  TRACED  IN  THE  PARABLES  AND    MIRACLES  IT  ADMITS. 

ST.     JOHN'S    PERSONAL    KNOWLEDGE     OF     THE     MIRACLES     HE     NAMES. — 

PRINCIPLE  OF  SELECTION. — DESIGN  CLEARLY  STATED  BY  HIMSELF,  TO 
PROVE  THAT  JESUS  WAS  THE  PROMISED  SAVIOUR. — CONTENTS  OF  THE 
GOSPEL. — ST.  JOHN'S  OBJECT  NOT  POLEMICAL. — QUARTERLY  REVIEW  QUOTED. 
— THOLUCK. 

IT  is  the  unanimous  testimony  of  antiquity  that  it  was  while  residing 
at  Ephesus  St.  John  wrote  his  Gospel,  and  thus  completed  and  gave 
new  beauty  to  that  picture  of  the  incarnate  Son  of  God,  which,  in  the 
first  three  Gospels,  was  already  in  possession  of  the  Church.  In  the 
purity  of  the  Greek  in  which  it  was  written  it  greatly  excels  the 
Apocalypse,  and  approaches  more  nearly  to  classical  Greek  than  any 
other  of  the  Gospels.1  The  conjecture  therefore  appears  to  be  well 
founded  that  it  must  have  been  written  some  score  or  more  of  years 
later  than  the  Apocalypse,  i.e.  somewhere  about  A.D.  85  or  86. 

That  it  was  writ'ten  out  of,  at  a  distance  from,  Judaea,  and  considerably 
after  the  time  the  apostle  left  it,  there  are  some  very  striking  internal 
proofs.  He  constantly  writes  as  if  he  had  specially  in  view,  in  the 
people  whom  he  addressed,  those  who  were  ignorant  of  the  customs  of 
the  Jews ;  or  he  speaks  as  one  who  had  himself  ceased  to  be  a  Jew, 
and  had  become  cosmopolitan,  and  was  describing  things  wholly  past, 
and  which  had  taken  place  at  a  distance,  under  circumstances  wholly 
unlike  those  of  the  mass  of  his  readers.  Thus  he  tells  them  that  the 
Jews  have  no  dealings  with  the  Samaritans  ;2  that  there  was  a  feast  of 
the  Jews  (referring  to  the  passover),  and  Jesus  went  up  to  Jerusalem; 

1  Introduction  to  Tholuck's  Comm.  2  Chap.  iv.  9. 


ST.  JOHN'S  GOSPEL:  ITS  ROMAN  HOROLOGY.  269 

and,  in  the  same  connection,  that  there  is  at  Jerusalem  a  pool  called  in 
the  Hebrew  tongue  Bethesda  j1  he  tells  them  how  Joseph  and  Nico- 
demus  took  the  body  of  Jesus,  and  prepared  it  for  burial,  "  as  the  manner 
of  the  Jews  is  to  bury."2  He  constantly  speaks  of  those  who  opposed 
and  persecuted  Jesus  as  "  the  Jews" :  "  therefore  did  the  Jews  persecute 
Jesus ;  "  "  therefore  the  Jews  sought  the  more  to  kill  Him  ;  "3  "  no  man 
spake  openly  of  Him  for  fear  of  the  Jews  ;  "4  "  the  Jews  took  up  stones 
again  to  stone  Him:"  as  if  he  were  writing  in  the  presence  of  the  great 
Gentile  community,  who  could  not  well  be  brought  to  recognise  any 
mere  party  among  the  Jews  as  opposed  to  Him,  when  He  was  rejected 
by  the  nation  as  a  whole,  represented  by  their  chief  priests  and  rulers. 
He  writes  (comparing  him  with  the  synoptists,  especially  Matthew) 
more  in  the  historical  vein  ;  that  is,  of  things  as  long  past  and  viewed 
from  a  distance.  He  makes  no  record  of  our  Lord's  prediction  of  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem,  as  that  destruction  was  already  past,  and 
that  prediction  already  fulfilled. 

He  evidently  adopts  the  Roman  horology  in  place  of  the  Jewish. 
This  is  commonly  admitted  in  respect  to  chap.  xix.  14,  where  it  is  said 
to  have  been  "  about  the  sixth  hour  "  when  Pilate  sat  down  on  the 
judgment  seat,  at  the  trial  of  Jesus,  as  the  best  and  only  satisfactory 
way  of  reconciling  this  passage  with  Mark  xv.  25,  where  we  have  it 
that  it  was  "  the  third  hour  "  when  they  crucified  Him,  and  with  Matt, 
xxvii.  45,  Mark  xv.  33,  Luke  xxiii.  44,  in  which  Jesus  is  described  as 
on  the  cross  at  the  SIXTH  hour.  The  Jews  commenced  their  civil  day 
at  sunset,  dividing  it  until  sunrise  into  twelve  parts,  and  from  sunrise 
to  sunset  into  the  same  number,  the  hours  of  course  varying  in  length 
according  to  the  season  of  the  year.  The  Romans  commenced  theirs 
at  midnight,  dividing  it  into  twelve  hours  till  noon,  and  again  from 
noon  till  midnight,  making  the  day  to  consist  of  twenty-four  hours  of 
equal  length  at  all  seasons  of  the  year.  And  in  the  other  instances  in 
which  John  notes  the  hour  of  the  day  (chap.  i.  39,  "  it  was  about  the 
tenth  hour  ;  "  iv.  6,  "  about  the  sixth  hour ;  "  iv.  52,  "  yesterday  at  the 
seventh  hour  "),  it  agrees  better  with  the  other  circumstances  recorded 
to  understand  him  as  employing  Roman  instead  of  Jewish  time  ;  and 
no  good  reason  can  be  given  why  he  should  use  it  in  one  instance  and 
not  in  the  others.  He  gave  the  hour  according  to  the  Roman  division 
of  the  day,  because  he  had  so  long  resided  among  the  Gentiles,  at  a 
distance  from  Juda3a,  whose  people  were  now  dispersed,  and  the  Christ- 
ian Church  had  come  to  be  so  largely  composed  of  Gentiles,  and  the 
Jewish  element  was  destined  steadily,  proportionately,  to  decrease. 

1  Chap.  v.  1,  2.  »  Chap.  v.  16,  18. 

*  Chap.  xix.  40.  4  Chap.  vii.  13,  et  passim. 


270  THE   LIFE    AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

AUTHORSHIP  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL. 

The  authorship  of  the  fourth  Gospel,  as  really  belonging  to  St.  John, 
was  never  seriously  questioned  until  almost  within  our  own  times. 
This  Gospel  has  been  made  on  this  question  the  battle  field,  as  has  been 
well  said,  of  the  New  Testament.  Dr.  Strauss,  in  his  first  "Life  of  Jesus," 
took  the  position  that  the  fourth  Gospel  was  not  the  work  of  the  son  of 
Zebedee.  The  Tubingen  school,  or  its  leading  writers,  Drs.  Baur, 
Schwegler,  and  Zeller,  aspired  to  supplement  the  negative  theory  of 
Strauss  by  holding  that  this  Gospel  represented  a  highly  developed 
stage  of  an  orthodox  gnosis,  requiring  at  least  a  century  after  the 
apostolic  age,  and  that  it  was  not  therefore  written  before  the  middle 
of  the  second  century.  Canon  Liddon  in  his  Bampton  Lectures  has 
briefly  but  with  great  clearness  and  ability  set  forth  the  proof  in  favour 
of  the  Johannean  authorship  of  the  fourth  Gospel.  The  facts,  as  he 
shows,  force  back  its  date  within  the  lines  of  the  first  century. 
"  And,  when  this  is  done,  the  question  of  its  authenticity  is  practically 
decided.  It  is  irrational  to  suppose  that  a  forgery,  claiming  the  name 
and  authority  of  the  beloved  disciple,  could  have  been  written  and  cir- 
culated beneath  his  very  eyes,  and  while  the  Church  was  still  illuminated 
by  his  oral  teaching.  Arbitrary  theories  about  the  time  which  is  thought 
necessary  to  develop  an  idea  cannot  rightly  be  held  to  counterbalance 
such  a  solid  block  of  historical  evidence  as  we  have  been  considering. 
This  evidence  shows  that  long  before  the  year  160  St.  John's  Gospel 
was  received  throughout  orthodox  and  heretical  Christendom,  and  that 
its  recognition  may  be  traced  up  to  the  apostolic  age  itself."  Ewald 
(adds  Liddon)  "  shall  supply  the  words  with  which  to  close  the  foregoing 
considerations.  '  Those  who,  since  the  first  discussion  of  this  question, 
have  been  really  conversant  with  it  never  could  have  had,  and  never 
have  had,  a  moment's  doubt.  As  the  attack  on  St.  John  has  become 
fiercer  and  fiercer,  the  truth  during  the  last  ten  or  twelve  years  has 
been  more  and  more  solidly  established,  error  has  been  pursued  into  its 
last  hiding  places,  and  at  this  moment  the  facts  before  us  are  such  that 
no  man  who  does  not  will  knowingly  to  choose  error  and  reject  the 
truth  can  dare  to  say  that  the  fourth  Gospel  is  not  the  work  of  the 
apostle  John.'"1 

DESIGN. 

This  Gospel  is  by  no  means  to  be  regarded  as  designed  merely  to 
supply  what  had  been  omitted  by  the  synoptists.  It  has  a  distinct  and 

1  Bampton  Lectures,  1866.  Eivingtons,  London,  etc.  Scribner,  Welford  &  Co., 
New  York,  1868,  p.  218.  See  also  Essays,  etc.,  by  George  P.  Fisher,  Professor 
Yale  College  (New  York,  1866.  Scribner  &  Co.),  in  an  able  article  of  more  than 
100  pages. 


ITS    DESIGN.  271 

easily  defined  object.  It  has  a  precision  of  method  and  progressive 
development  of  ideas  suited  to  this  object.  This  may  be  easily  traced 
in  the  parables  and  miracles  which  the  writer  admits,  as  well  as  in  those 
he  omits.  Take,  for  example,  the  miracles.  Only  about  one  third  of 
the  number  contained  in  the  evangelic  history  are  recorded  by  him.  Of 
the  thirty-three  commonly  enumerated  he  has  but  eight.  Of  these 
eight,  six  are  recorded  by  him  alone,  to  wit :  1.  The  water  made  wine ; 
2.  Healing  of  the  nobleman's  son ;  3.  Healing  of  the  impotent  man  at 
Bethesda ;  4.  Restoring  sight  to  a  man  born  blind ;  5.  The  raising  of 
Lazarus;  6.  Second  miraculous  draught  of  fishes.  The  other  two  are  the 
miraculous  feeding  of  the  five  thousand,  and  the  walking  on  the  sea. 
The  former  is  recorded  by  all  the  evangelists,  the  latter  is  found  also  in 
Matthew  and  Mark.  It  is  further  worthy  of  notice  that  St.  John  alone 
records  the  earliest  miracles  of  Christ,  and  the  last  of  them  :  the  water 
made  wine,  and  the  cure  of  the  nobleman's  son ;  the  miraculous  draught 
of  fishes  after  the  resurrection  of  Christ.  It  is  not  easy  to  suggest  a 
reason  why  such  important  miracles  as  the  raising  of  Lazarus  and  the 
healing  of  the  impotent  man,  for  example,  are  not  found  in  the  syn- 
optists ;  but  in  regard  to  the  miracles  at  the  marriage  in  Cana,  and  the 
healing  of  the  young  man  lying  sick  at  Capernaum,  it  may  be  said  that 
these  were  performed  before  Matthew,  the  writer  of  the  first  Gospel 
and  only  apostle  save  John  among  the  evangelists,  was  called  to  the  dis- 
cipleship.  St.  John,  no  doubt,  had  personal  knowledge  of  all  the  miracles 
he  names ;  and  writing  a  considerable  period  of  time  after  the  narra- 
tives of  the  others  had  been  in  possession  of  the  Church,  the  omission 
in  theirs  of  those  he  exclusively  records  was  a  sufficient  reason,  but 
still  it  was  not  the  reason,  for  their  being  found  in  his.  It  cannot 
be  that  it  was  merely  his  object  to  rescue  from  oblivion  the  miracles 
not  named  by  his  brother  evangelists  ;  for  he  does  not  confine  himself 
strictly  to  them.  The  evangelists  as  a  body  do  not  profess  to  give  an 
account  of  every  miracle  the  Saviour  performed.  On  the  contrary,  St. 
John  expressly  says  there  were  many  things  which  there  had  been  no 
attempt  to  record,1  and  the  others  often  content  themselves  by  alluding 
in  the  general  to  ocher  "works,"  or  many  other  "wonderful  works" 
He  performed.  The  reason  why  the  particular  miracles  found  in  the 
fourth  Gospel  were  recorded  by  its  writer,  or  the  principle  of  selection  in 
regard  to  them  by  which  he  was  guided,  is  to  be  found  in  the  special 
purpose  which,  directed  by  the  Spirit  of  inspiration,  he  had  in  view 
in  writing  it.  This  he  clearly  states  2  was  to  set  forth  the  "  signs  " 
or  proofs  that  Jesus  was  the  promised  Saviour  of  the  world,  that,  "  be- 
lieving," men  "  might  have  life  through  His  name."  We  find  in  it  not 
the  miracles  which  Jesus  performed  "  in  the  presence  of  His  disciples  " 
1  Chap.  xxi.  25.  2  Chap.  xx.  30,  31. 


272  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OP    ST.  JOHN. 

alone,  but  only  those  of  the  most  public  character,  with  but  two  ex- 
ceptions (the  walking  on  the  sea,  and  the  second  miraculous  draught 
of  fishes),  performed  at  Jerusalem,  the  very  centre  of  opposition  and 
enmity  to  Him,  and  in  the  presence  of  great  numbers  of  witnesses  ;  and 
in  regard  to  the  two  exceptions  named  they  were  admirably  fitted  to 
give  weight  to  the  personal  testimony  of  the  apostles  as  witnesses  for 
the  Messiahship  of  Jesus. 

Remembering  what  the  apostle  himself  says  as  to  the  reason  for  the 
signs  written  in  this  book,  and  that  he  wrote  after  the  other  evangelists 
and  after  a  long  residence  outside  of  Palestine,  as  in  the  presence  of  the 
great  Gentile  world,  and  in  one  of  its  most  celebrated  capitals,  we 
are  furnished  with  a  key  which  will  unfold  the  bearing  of  the  several 
parts  of  this  Gospel,  not  only  the  miracles  but  the  parables  and  dis- 
courses, and  the  events  recorded  in  it  and  their  relation  to  its  great 
topic,  that  Jesus  is  the  Saviour  of  men.  "  All  who  have  examined  this 
Gospel  with  care  have  noticed  a  marked  peculiarity  in  the  order  and  the 
arrangement  of  the  narrative,  and  in  the  principles  of  selection  which 
apparently  determined  the  author  in  his  choice  of  what  should  be 
inserted.  The  explanation  of  this  peculiarity  is  doubtless  to  be  found 
primarily  and  mainly  in  the  fact  that  he  was  writing  a  life  of  Jesus, 
not  for  its  own  sake,  but  for  the  purpose  of  proving  thereby  that  He 
was  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God.  This  being  his  aim,  he  shapes  all 
things  to  the  end  which  he  has  in  view."  l  This  specific  and  distinctly 
announced  design  is  never  for  a  moment  lost  sight  of.  He  had  the 
world,  especially  outside  of  Judasa,  for  which  he  was  then  labouring  and 
writing,  constantly  in  his  thoughts. 

ANALYSIS. 

PART  FIEST  consists  of  a  series  of  proofs  or  signs  that  Jesus  ivas  the 
predicted  Messiah,  the  appointed  Saviour  of  the  world ;  or,  it  is  a  record 
of  what  Jesus  made  known  of  Himself  to  convince  the  unbelieving.  Chaps. 
I.  to  XII. 

1.  He  starts  with  the  truth,  as  lying  at  the  foundation  of  all,  that 
the  Messiah  was  no  other  than  the  Eternal  Word  made  flesh  :  chap.  i. 
1-14. 

2.  Testimony  of  John  the  Baptist,  acknowledged   as   one   of    the 
greatest  prophets  by  the  Jews,  to  the  pre-existence  and  Messiahship 
of  Jesus :  chap.  i.  15-31. 

1  Boston  Lectures,  1872  :  Christianity  and  Scepticism,  Lecture  VI. ,  by  Kev. 
Timothy  Dwight,  D.D.  Pp.  160,  161.  Dr.  Dwight  maintains  that  John  meant  to 
have  his  narrative  bear  a  peculiar  relation  to  his  own  experience,  and  the  way  in 
which  his  own  religious  life  originated. 


273 

3.  Testimony  of   John  the  Baptist  to  his  own  followers,  whereby 
Jesus  wins  His  first  disciples  from  among  them  :  chap.  i.  35-51. 

4.  Jesus  manifests  His  glory  by  turning  water  into  wine,  His  first 
miracle :  chap.  ii.  1-11. 

5.  He  exhibits  His  control  over  the  wills  of  men,  at  the  cleansing  of 
the  temple :  chap.  ii.  12-25. 

6.  The  conviction  wrought  in  the  mind  of  one  of  the  most  intelligent 
of  the  Jews,  a  member  of  their  great  council,  that  Jesus  had  a  Divine 
commission  :  chap.  iii.  1-21. 

7.  The  final  and  most  complete  testimony  of  that  great  prophet  and 
holy  man,  John  the  Baptist,  to  the  Divine  mission  and  Messiahship  of 
Jesus  :  chap.  iii.  22-36. 

8.  The   Messiahship   of  Jesus  acknowledged  among  those   natural 
enemies  of  His  nation,  the  Samaritans  :  chap.  iv.  1-42. 

9.  A  nobleman,  probably  a  courtier  of  Herod  Antipas,  is  convinced, 
and  believes  in  Jesus  :  chap.  iv.  43-54. 

10.  Christ  performs  a  miracle  on  that  great   public  occasion,  the 
Passover,  which,  in  contrast  with  false  miracles,  points  Him  out  as  the 
Son  of  God  and  Saviour  of  the  world :  chap.  v.  1-16. 

11.  The  dignity  of  Christ's  character  and  the  Divinity  of  His  person 
as  asserted  by  Himself:  chap.  v.  17-29. 

12.  God's  testimony  to  Jesus  as  His   Son  and  our  Saviour,  in  the 
miracles  He  wrought  and  the  prophecies  that  were  fulfilled  in  Him  : 
chap.  v.  30-47. 

13.  By  His  miracle  in  creating  supplies  for  several  thousands  of  people, 
so  deep  was  the  conviction  wrought  in  their  minds  that  He  was  the 
Messiah,  that  they  were  ready  to  make  Him  their  king:  chap.  vi.  1-15. 

14.  By  His  authority  over  the  elements  of  nature  Jesus  shows  to 
His  disciples  that  the  greatest  throne  on  earth  would  confer  no  power 
or  elevation  on  Him  :  chap.  vi.  16-21. 

15.  In  a  discourse  called  forth  by  the  enthusiasm  of  the  people,  in 
consequence  of  His  miracle  in  feeding  the  five  thousand,  Jesus  lays 
claims  to  functions  which  can  belong  only  to  the  promised  Messiah 
and  Divine  Saviour  :  chap.  vi.  22-71. 

16.  At   the  feast  of  Tabernacles  in  Jerusalem,   He  vindicates  His 
Messiahship  before  a  promiscuous  assemblage  of  the  people  with  con- 
vincing power  :  chap.  vii.  1-31. 

17.  Such  was  the  impression  made  by  Him  even  on  the  officers  of 
the  Sanhedrin  sent   to  arrest  Him,  that  they  failed  to  do  it :  chap, 
vii.  32-53. 

18.  Such  was   the  conviction  wrought   in   the   consciences   of  the 
members  of  the  Sanhedrin  itself,  that  they  retired  abashed  from  His 
presence :  chap.  viii.  1-11. 

T 


274  THE    LIFE    AND   WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

19.  Christ  again  bears  testimony  to  His  exalted  dignity  and  Divinity: 
chap.  viii.  12-59. 

20.  His  Messiahship  proved  by  a  miracle  established  by  testimony, 
elicited  after  the  most   rigid   scrutiny  by  His   enemies    sitting   in  a 
judicial  capacity:  chap.  ix.  1-41. 

21.  The  character  of  Christ  (the  Good  Shepherd)  a  proof  of  His 
Messiahship  :    chap.  x.  1-21. 

22.  Jesus  declares  His  Messiahship  distinctly,  claiming  equality  with 
the  Father :  chap.  x.  22-42. 

23.  The  miracle  of  the  resurrection  of  Lazarus  an  illustrious  proof 
of  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus  :  chap.  xi.  1-54. 

24.  The  risen  Lazarus  a  living  witness   among  the   Jews  to   His 
Messiahship :  chap.  xi.  55 — xii.  1-11. 

25.  Jesus  is  proclaimed  Messiah  by  the  multitude  at  Jerusalem,  at 
His  triumphal  entry :   chap.  xii.  12-19. 

26.  His  Divine  Sonship  proclaimed  by  a  voice  from  heaven,  in  the 
ears  of  certain  representatives  of  the  Gentile  world :   chap.  xii.  20-33. 

27.  The  rejection  of  Jesus  by  the  Jews,  notwithstanding  the  evi- 
dence  of    His   Messiahship,   was   a   fulfilment   of    prophecy :    chap, 
xii.  34-50. 

PART  SECOND  :  Evidence  that  Jesus  is  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  derived 
from  His  intercourse  and  discourses  in  private  with  His  chosen  friends, 
and  especially  as  seen  in  the  great  sacrifice  offered  ~by  Him  and  its  accept- 
ance for  the  salvation  of  the  world.  Chaps.  XIII.  to  XXI.  • 

1.  The  self  sacrificing  spirit  which  will  enable  His  disciples  to  find 
happiness  in  any  service,  however  humble,  which  brotherly  love  requires 
one  to  render  to  another  :  chap.  xiii.  1-17. 

2.  Foretells  His  betrayal  by  Judas :  chap.  xiii.  18-30. 

3.  Final  instructions  of  Christ  to  His  followers,  first  removes  their 
perplexities  and  misgivings  :  chap.  xiii.  31 — xiv.  1-7. 

4.  Proofs  of  His  Messiahship  in  the  provision  made  for  His  con- 
tinued presence  in  the  mission  of  the  Holy  Comforter :  chap.  xiv.  8-31. 

5.  Strength  and  comfort  from  union  with  Christ  absent,  by  faith 
through  the  Spirit :  chap.  xv.  1-27. 

6.  Doctrine    concerning   the   mission   of    the    Comforter   fully    de- 
veloped :  chap.  xvi.  1-33. 

7.  Messiah's  prayer  for  His  followers  :  chap.  xvii.  1-26. 

8.  The  Divinity  of  Messiah  seen  in  the  hour  of  His  deepest  humilia- 
tion in  the  garden  of  agony  :  chap,  xviii.  1-9. 

9.  Fulfilment   of   His  prediction  in  regard  to  the  denial  of  Peter : 
chap,  xviii.  10-27. 


ST.    JOHN'S    GOSPEL   NOT    POLEMICAL.  275 

10.  Evidences  of  the  Messialiship  of  Jesus  in  His  trial  before  Pilate : 
chap,  xviii.  28 — xix.  1-16. 

11.  Evidences  seen  in  His  crucifixion  and  the  manner  of  His  death  : 
chap.  xix.  17-30. 

12.  The  supernatural  in  the  death,  and  the  Divine  interposition  in  the 
burial,  of  Christ :  chap.  xix.  31-42. 

13.  Crowning  proof  of   the  Messiahship  of  Jesus,  His  resurrection 
from  the  dead  :  chap.  xx.  1-31. 

14.  After  His  resurrection  He  performs  similar  miracles  to  those 
performed  before  His  crucifixion,  and  thus  identifies  Himself  in  the 
highest  regions  of  proof  with  the  Jesus  who  died  :  chap.  xxi.  1-25. 

The  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved,  in  carrying  out  his  particular 
design  according  to  the  above  order  of  arrangement,  has  given  us  the 
fullest  and  deepest  picture  of  his  love.  But  we  find  scattered  over 
the  pages  of  the  other  evangelists  passages  which  are  in  entire  har- 
mony with  the  peculiar  strain  of  John.1  While  John  discloses  to  us  a 
more  inward  aspect  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  and  supplies  many  pro- 
positions we  could  not  directly  gather  from  his  predecessors,  the  moral 
and  practical  bearings  of  the  four  evangelists  are  in  close  and  thorough 
correspondence.  "  Socrates,"  says  Renan,  "who  like  Jesus  did  not  write, 
is  made  known  to  us  by  two  of  his  disciples,  Xenophon  and  Plato." 
He  likens  the  synoptists  to  Xenophon,  and  makes  John  the  Plato.  But 
Plato  and  Xenophon,  in  their  rival  representations  of  Socrates,  present 
two  systems,  the  ethical  bearings  of  which  appear  to  be  widely  differ- 
ent, if  not  altogether  irreconcilable.  No  such  divergence  from  the 
other  evangelists  can  be  discovered  in  John.  The  four  all  have  the 
same  ethical  basis,  and  they  go  to  produce  the  very  same  frame  of 
mind  and  course  of  action.2 

The  opinion  that  St.  John  had  a  polemical  object  has  no  better 
foundation  than  that  he  wrote  to  provide  a  supplement  to  the  other 
Gospels.  He  wrote  not  primarily  to  refute  errorists,  but  that  men 
might  believe  and  have  life.  "There  may  be  truth  in  that  surmise, 
that  his  spirit,  kindled  and  informed  by  a  higher  Light,  looked  back 
upon  the  growth  of  his  own  faith  in  the  Master  who  loved  him,  and 
he  wrote  for  other  men  that  which  had  led  himself  into  the  way  of 
life ;  that  his  Gospel  is  not  so  much  a  history  of  the  Lord  as  a  history 
of  those  things  which  led  himself  to  know  and  believe  in  the  Lord.  At 
any  rate,  the  object  of  this  Gospel  is  patent,  to  reveal  to  men  the  glory 
of  Christ  as  it  was  manifested  in  His  earthly  struggle.  In  the  first 
four  chapters  the  Lord  is  seen  gathering  to  Himself  those  who  seek 

1  See  Matt.  xi.  27 ;  Luke  x.  22. 

2  See  Article  on  "  Ecce  Homo,"  by  Eight  Hon.  W.  E.  Gladstone,  in  Good  Words. 


276  THE    LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

the  truth,  whilst  the  evil  storm  of  opposition  and  unbelief  begins  to 
lower  and  mutter.  From  the  fifth  to  the  twelfth  chapters  the  struggle 
with  the  unbelief  of  the  world  is  open  and  severe ;  the  Lord  on  the 
one  side. reveals  Himself,  the  Jews  on  the  other  reject  Him.  From  the 
thirteenth  to  the  seventeenth  chapters,  He  reveals  Himself  (through 
those  more  tender  and  richer  nnfoldings  of  the  truth  in  His  discourses 
with  His  chosen  friends)  and  all  that  He  is  or  can  do  with  the  Father 
on  man's  behalf.  In  the  closing  chapters  He  suffers  when  the  rest  of 
His  work  is  finished,  and  rises  again  in  final  triumph,  to  send  the 
promised  Comforter,  that  through  Him  all  that  believe  might  have  life. 
The  glorious  conquest  of  Christ  over  evil  (or  His  power  to  effect  this 
conquest),  shown  to  men  in  order  that  they  might  believe  and  might 
have  life  through  believing,  this  was  the  apostle's  purpose.  Who  so 
fit  to  write  on  such  a  theme  as  he  that  had  been  a  near  spectator  both 
of  the  struggle  and  the  victory?  Such  an  explanation  is  as  far  as 
possible  from  the  notion  that  the  writer  had  in  view  (controversially) 
new  doctrines  about  the  person  of  the  Lord,  and  from  the  opinion  to 
which  the  ancient  writers  gave  too  much  countenance,  that  this  is  a 
polemic  against  Cerinthus  and  Ebion  and  the  Gnostics.  One  writing 
of  the  incarnation  in  the  midst  of  certain  errors  could  not  but  write 
so  that  the  errors  should  meet  their  refutation.  But  there  is  no  per- 
vading controversial  aim,  of  direct  polemical  matter  there  is  not  one 
syllable  in  this  Gospel.  It  is  polemical  in  that,  being  true,  it  is  a  touch- 
stone of  error ;  it  is  against  the  modern  Socinus  almost  in  the  same 
sense  that  it  is  against  the  ancient  Cerinthus."  1 

"  We  have  in  this  Gospel  an  exhibition  of  the  power  of  Christianity 
as  it  presents  itself  to  men  of  the  most  thoughtful  and  the  purest 
minds.  The  author  of  it,  as  the  world  is  coming  to  acknowledge  more 
and  more,  belonged  to  this  class  of  men,  and  was  even  an  exalted  one 
among  them.  He  had  indeed  the  devotion  and  love  that  belong  to  a 
woman,  but  the  strength  of  intellect  and  the  profound  thought  which 
characterize  the  higher  order  of  men.  We  learn  from  it  that  the 
richest  life  of  the  richest  soul,  perchance,  the  world  has  ever  known 
came  to  its  earthly  perfection  through  its  following  of  Jesus  as  the 
incarnate  Son  of  God."2 

'  "  As  regards  the  substance,  the  superhuman  in  Christ,  the  necessity 
of  faith  in  Him,  regeneration,  the  mystical  union  of  believers  with 
Him  and  with  one  another,  the  commandment  of  love,  and  the  blessing 
attached  to  it,  these  are  the  chief  themes  of  John's  teaching,  and 
many  of  the  facts  recorded  by  him  and  peculiar  to  this  Gospel  cor- 

1  Quarterly  Review,  Art.,  Life  of  our  Lord.     No.  ccxl.,  Oct.,  1866. 

2  Boston  Lectures,  1872:    Christianity  and  Scepticism,  Lecture  VI.,  by  Eev. 
Timothy  Dwight,  D.D.,  Yale  College.    Pp.  190,  193. 


ST.    JOHN'S    GOSPEL, THOLUCK   QUOTED.  277 

respond  with  them;  among  these  are  presented  the  condescending 
love  of  Christ,  shown  in  His  seeking  men,  His  tender  relation  as  a  man 
to  John,  His  position  of  earnestness  yet  of  forbearance  toward  His 
betrayer,  His  superhuman  knowledge,  His  glorification  in  suffering, 
and  the  obstinate  unbelief  of  the  world.  To  this  substance  the  peculiar 
character  of  the  author's  spirit,  impressing  itself  on  the  language,  has 
imparted  a  form  which  enlists  the  sensibilities  in  a  high  degree." 
"  This  Gospel  speaks  a  language  to  which  no  parallel  whatever  is  to 
be  found  in.  the  whole  compass  of  literature  ;  such  childlike  simplicity, 
with  such  contemplative  profundity ;  such  life,  and  such  deep  rest ; 
such  sadness,  and  such  serenity ;  and  above  all,  such  a  breadth  of  love, 
an  eternal  life  which  has  already  dawned,  a  life  which  rests  in  God, 
which  has  overcome  the  disunion  between  the  world  that  is  and  the 
world  to  come,  the  human  and  the  Divine." l 

1  Tholuck's  Commentary  on  John,  Introduction,  §  5. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

ANALYSIS  OF  THE  GOSPEL,  WITH  BETEF  EXPLANATOEY 

NOTES. 

I.  SIGNS  TO  THE  UNBELIEVING  WORLD.— PROLOGUE. — TESTIMONY  OF  JOHN  THE 
BAPTIST  TO  HIS  FEE-EXISTENCE. — HIS  TESTIMONY  TO  HIS  OWN  FOLLOW- 
ERS.— POWER  OF  JESUS'  WILL  OVER  NATURE. — OVER  THE  WILLS  OF  MEN. 

CONVICTION    OF   NICODEMUS. — FINAL  AND    COMPLETE    TESTIMONY    OF   THE 

BAPTIST. — MESSIAHSHIP  ACKNOWLEDGED  BY  THE  SAMARITANS. — A  COURTIER 
OF  HEROD  ANTIPAS  CONVINCED. — HIS  MIRACLES  IN  CONTRAST  WITH  FALSE 
MIRACLES. — DIGNITY  OF  HIS  CHARACTER,  AND  DIVINITY  OF  HIS  PERSON 
ASSERTED  BY  HIMSELF. — GOD'S  TESTIMONY  TO  JESUS  IN  HIS  MIRACLES, 
AND  THE  PROPHECIES  FULFILLED  IN  HIM. — MASSES  OF  THE  PEOPLE  CON- 
VINCED.— HIS  CHARACTER  AS  A  PROOF. — DIVINE  SONSHIP  PROCLAIMED  BY 
A  VOICE  FROM  HEAVEN,  ETC. — II.  EVIDENCE  TO  ST.  JOHN  AND  OTHER  APOS- 
TLES IN  PRIVATE,  AND  ESPECIALLY  AS  SEEN  IN  HIS  SACRIFICE.— CONTINUED 
PRESENCE  IN  THE  MISSION  OF  THE  HOLY  COMFORTER.  — PRAYER  FOR  HIS 
FOLLOWERS. — DIVINITY  SEEN  IN  THE  GARDEN  OF  GETHSEMANE. — IN  HIS 

TRIAL    BEFORE    PILATE. IN   THE    MANNER  OF   HIS    DEATH. — IN    THE  DIVINE 

INTERPOSITION   IN  HIS   BURIAL. — IN   HIS   RESURRECTION. 

THE  GOSPEL  ACCORDING  TO  ST.  JOHN. 

PART  FIRST. — A  series  of  proofs  or  signs  that  Jesus  was  the  pre- 
dicted Messiah,  the  appointed  Saviour  of  the  world  ;  or,  a  record  of 
what  Jesus  made  known  of  Himself  to  convince  the  unbelieving. 
Chapters  I.  to  XII. 

1.  Prologue.     Messiah  no  other  than  the  Eternal  Word  made  Flesh. 
I.]  [Ver.  1-14. 

1       IN  the  beginning1  was  the  Word,2  and  the  Word  was  with  God, 

1  St.  John,  without  tracing   the    genealogy  of   our  Lord  to  Abraham    as    St. 
Matthew  does,  or  to  Adam  as  the  evangelist  Luke  does,  and  without  connecting 
the  gospel  with  the  prophecies  of  the  Old   Testament  as  Mark  does,  goes  back 
as  far  as  the  finite  powers  of  a  mortal  can  reach.     He  penetrates  the  depths 
of  the  eternal  past  (passing  by  the  creation  of  the  world  as  an  event  of  yesterday), 
and  contemplates  Christ  as  one  with  God,  the  invisible,  incomprehensible  Father. 
The  "  beginning,"  d^.  is  not  the  same  spoken  of  Gen.i.l,  JTttJNl.  In  Genesis  it 
denotes  the  origin  of  creation  ;  here,  a  beginning  before  time.     And  the  expression 
that  the  Word  "was,"  in  this  beginning,  denotes  an  enduring,  timeless  existence. 

2  It  is  evident  John  uses  this  expression  as  a  term  known  to  his  readers,  and  as 


ST.    JOHN   I.  279 

2  and  the  Word  was  God.     The  same  was  in  the  beginning  with 

3  God.     All1  things  were  made  by  Him;  and  without  Him  was 

4  not  anything  made  that  was  made.     In  Him  was  life  ; 2  and  the 

5  life  was  the  light  of  men.     And  the  light  shineth  in  darkness ; 

6  and  the  darkness 3  comprehended  it  not.    There  was  a  man  sent 

7  from  God,  whose  name  was  John.4     The  same  came  for  a  wit- 

the  name  of  a  Being  or  Person.  A  grammatical  exposition  is  of  no  further  use  than 
to  exhibit  a  certain  fitness  in  the  application  made  of  this  term  in  the  writings  of 
this  apostle  (1  John  i.  1  ;  Eev.  xix.  13).  John  might  have  employed  the  term 
which  Solomon  had  used  before  him,  "Wisdom"  (Prov.  viii.  22-31) ;  but  he  preferred 
that  of  WORD,  probably  because  it  embraced  an  idea  wanting  in  the  other  term,  to 
wit,  that  God  reveals  Himself  in  this  Being,  that  this  Being  was  the  expression  of 
God,  in  some  sense  as  the  human  spirit  manifests  itself  in  speech.  It  is  not  to  be 
conceded  for  a  moment  that  he  gained  the  idea  from  any  historical  or  external 
source  whatever.  He  obtained  it  first  in  reality  through  the  illumination  of  the 
Spirit  revealing  to  him  in  Christ  the  doctrine  of  the  true  God.  We  learn  through 
the  writings  of  the  Jewish  Philo,  of  Alexandria,  that  there  had  been  much  specu- 
lation respecting  the  Logos,  and,  in  the  prevailing  philosophy  of  the  apostolic  age, 
these  subtle  speculations  were  still  rife.  "  Providence  had  so  ordered  it  that  in  the 
intellectual  world  in  which  Christianity  made  its  first  appearance  many  ideas 
apparently  at  least  closely  related  to  it  should  be  current,  in  which  Christianity 
could  find  a  point  of  connection  for  the  doctrine  of  God  revealed  in  Christ." 
(Neander's  Kirchen.,  i.  3,  p.  989.)  The  author  of  this  Gospel,  in  his  long  residence 
in  the  Greek  cities  of  Asia  Minor,  had  been  brought  in  contact  with  these  ideas,  and 
he  sought  to  lead  those  who  were  busied  with  their  speculations  from  their  religious 
idealism  to  the  recognition  of  that  God  who  was  revealed  in  the  person  of  Christ. 
In  the  choice  of  an  expression  for  the  truth  with  which  he  was  charged,  he  makes 
use  of  a  term  suited  to  all  times,  but  specially  adapted  to  the  intellectual  status  of 
those  around  him,  and  to  whom  he  primarily  addressed  himself.  He  placed  the 
idea  of  the  Divine  Word  in  such  express  connection  with  the  idea  of  Messiah  that 
he  points  out  the  Messiah  as  Himself  the  incarnate  Logos.  The  grand  thought  be- 
fore the  apostle's  mind  is  that  the  pre-existent  Word  has  appeared  as  a  human  per- 
son. He  is  not  some  sublime  creature,  some  mysterious  emanation  brought  forth 
at  some  fixed  beginning,  but  was  with  God,  and  was  God,  the  self  manifestation 
from  eternity  of  the  Father,  the  pure  perfect  image  of  Himself. 

1  The  whole  vast  universe,  intelligent  and  unintelligent,  creatures  spiritual  and 
material,  in  all  their  various  ranks  and  orders  (Col.  i.  16,  17).     It  was  the  Father, 
imaging  Himself  in  the  Eternal  Word,  who  uttered  the  creative  fiat. 

2  The  life  that  He  imparted  was  the  light  of  men  ;  it  was  full  of  blessedness.    All 
that  we  can  imagine  of  the  purity  and  joy  of  man  in  the  innocence  of  paradise 
wearing  the  image  and  likeness  of  his  Maker,  and  all  that  we  can  conceive  of  that 
confirmed  state  of  holiness  and  bliss  to  which  he  would  have  been  exalted  had  he 
not  sinned,  must  be  included  in  that  light  which  was  in,  or  accompanied,  the  life 
imparted  to  men. 

3  The  apostle  turns  another  leaf  in  this  apocalypse  of  the  past.     What  means 
this  darkness,  ij  a-Koria,  but  the  creature  turned  away  from  God,  having  through 
sin  lost  the  Divine  light ;  collective  humanity,  like  this  globe  when  it  was  formless 
and  void,  and  darkness  was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep  ? 

4  The  evangelist  here  refers  to  John  the  Baptist,  his  first  teacher,  who  had 
directed  him  to  Jesus,  and  who,  as  the  greatest  of  the  prophets,  came  to  complete 


280  THE    LIFE    AND   WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

ness,  to  bear  witness  of  the  Light,  that  all  men  through  him 

8  might   believe.     He  was  not  that  Light,  but  was  sent  to  bear 

9  witness  of  that  Light.     That  was  the  true  Light,  which  lighteth 

10  every  man  that  cometh1  into  the  world.     He2  was  in  the  world, 
and  the  world  was  made  by  Him,  and  the  world  knew  Him  not. 

11  He  came  unto  His  own,3  and  His  own  received  Him  not.     But 

12  as  many  as  received  Him,  to  them  gave  He  power4  to  become 

13  the  sons  of  God,  even  to  them  that  believe  on  His  name :  which 
were  born,5  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the 

14  will  of  man,  but  of  God.     And  the  Word  was  made  flesh,6  and 
dwelt  among  us,  (and  we  beheld  His  glory,  the  glory  as  of  the 
only  begotten  of  the  Father,)  full  of  grace  and  truth. 

2.  Testimony  of  John  the  Baptist,   acknowledged    as  one  of  the  greatest 
prophets  ~by  the  Jews,  to  the  pre-existence  and  Messiahship  of  Jesus. 

[Yer.  15-34. 

15  John  bare  witness  of  Him,  and  cried,  saying,  This  was  He  of 
whom  I  spake,7  He  that  cometh  after  me  is  preferred  before 

16  me ;  for  He  was 8  before  me.     And  of  His  fulness  have  all  we 

the  testimony  that  Jesus  was  the  light  that  should  enlighten  the  whole  world.  If 
the  long  line  of  prophets  were  like  stars,  illuminating  the  darkness  of  the  night, 
John  the  Baptist  was  the  morning  star,  the  harbinger  of  the  Sun  of  Eighteousness. 

1  If  we  construe  "  that  cometh  into  the  world,"  or  that  uas  coming,  fy,  with  the 
true  Light,  i.e.  the  Saviour,  then  the  meaning  is  that  He  was  coming  to  enlighten 
all  nations,  and  not  the  Jewish  nation  only. 

2  The  personal  appearing  now  becomes  more  distinct,  by  the  use  of  the  pronoun 
He. 

3  "  His  own  "  here  clearly  forms  an  antithesis  with  the  world,  and  means  His  own 
kindred  or  nation,  according  to  the  flesh. 

4  It  means  not  merely  opportunity,  or  prerogative,  but  ability.    It  was  this  that 
mankind  lacked. 

5  It  is  only  by  regeneration  of  the  Spirit  that  sinners  of  our  race  become  sons  of 
God.     Men  who  are  born  of  God  have  this  birth  accomplished  in  them  by  the 
power  of  the  first  born  and  only  begotten  Son  of  God,  working  faith  in  their  hearts 
through  the  Holy  Ghost. 

6  The  climax  to  which  all  before  has  been  tending.     The  "flesh  "  here  means  the 
whole  human  nature,  body  and  soul,  in  its  weak  and  necessitous  condition,  in  which 
He  dwelt,  eo-Kfyuw,  tabernacled.     His  glory  shone  through  this  tabernacle,  as  the 
glow  of  lamps  at  night  makes  a  tent  in  the  desert,  or  in  the  military  encampment, 
luminous  in  the  surrounding  darkness. 

'  This  testimony  was  borne  subsequently  to  his  baptism  of  Jesus  and  the  ap- 
pointed sign,  designating  Jesus  as  the  Messiah,  being  given.  When  the  Pharisees 
and  Sadducees  came  to  his  baptism  he  had  declared  that  there  was  One  coming 
after  him  mightier  than  he. 

8  He  appeared  officially  after  John,  but  was  superior  to  him  in  dignity.  "  For 
He  was  before  me,"  refers  to  the  pre-existence  of  Christ.  "  The  verb  in  the  original 


ST.    JOHN     I.  281 

17  received,  and  grace1  for  grace.     For  the  law  was  given  by 

18  Moses,,  but  grace  and  truth  came  by  Jesus  Christ.     No  man 
hath  seen  God  at  any  time  ;  the  only  begotten  Son,  which  is  in 

19  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  He  hath  declared 2  Him.    And  this  is 
the  record 3  of  John,  when  the  Jews  *  sent  priests  and  Levites 

20  from  Jerusalem   to   ask  him,  Who  art  thou  ?      And   he  con- 
fessed, and  denied  not ;  but  confessed,  I  am  not  the  Christ. 

21  And  they  asked  him,  What  then  ?     Art  thou  Elias  ? 5     And  he 
saith,  I  am  not.    Art  thou  that  prophet  ?     And  he  answered, 

22  No.     Then  said  they  unto  him,  Who  art  thou  ?  that  we  may 
give  an  answer  to  them  that  sent  us.     What  sayest  thou  of 

23  thyself  ?     He  said,  I  am  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilder- 
ness, Make  straight  the  way  of  the  Lord,  as  said  the  prophet 

24Esaias.    And  they   which  were   sent  were  of  the   Pharisees. 

25  And  they  asked  him,  and  said  unto  him,  Why  baptizest  thou 
then,  if  thou  be  not  that  Christ,  nor  Elias,  neither  that  prophet  ? 

26  John  answered  them,  saying,  I  baptize  with  water  :  but  there 

27  standeth  One  among  you,  whom  ye  know  not ;  He  it  is,  who 
coming  after  me  is  preferred 6  before  me,  whose  shoe's  latchet 

refers  to  a  fixed  and  permanent  state  of  existence,  and  not  to  one  upon  which 
Christ  entered,  which  is  expressed  by  a  different  verb  in  the  preceding  clause.  The 
employment  of  the  two  verbs,  to  be  and  to  become,  in  their  distinctive  significations, 
is  well  observed  in  these  verses,  the  one  being  used  of  our  Lord's  pre-existent  and 
unchanging  state  as  supreme  Logos,  the  other  of  His  becoming  incarnate  and 
dwelling  among  men."  See  Comm.  of  J.  J.  Owen,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  in  loco. 

1  Origen  and  Erasmus  regard  the  words  of  ver.  16-18  as  those  of  the  Baptist ;  so 
also  Luther,  Melanchthon,  Lange,  and  others.    But  Tholuck,  Hengstenberg,  Alford, 
Schaff,  and  others,  ascribe  what  is  contained  in  these  verses  to  the  evangelist,  on 
the  ground  of  their  distinctive  Christian  character.     "  Grace  for  grace,"  i.e.,  grace 
in  continual  accessions.     Believers  may  partake  of  the  inexhaustible  fulness  that 
is  in  Christ,  and,  as  their  capacity  of  receiving  increases  as  they  receive,  may  con- 
tinue to  receive  without  danger  of  ever  exhausting  the  fountain. 

2  It  is  only  by  Jesus  Christ  that   the   invisible   Father  has   been   manifested 
and   can    be  known.      He   is  "the   image  of  the   invisible    God"    (Col.  i.  15; 
2  Cor.  iv.  4). 

3  "Kecord,"  i]  fj-aprvpia,  for  the  most  part,  in  the  New  Testament  has  the  sense 
of  testimony. 

4  The  party  among  the  Jews  hostile  to  Jesus,  the  Pharisees  or  representatives  of 
the  Sanhedrin.     The  general  title  Jews,  so  common  in  this  Gospel,  was  natural  to 
one  who  had  been  so  long  absent  from  Judaea  as  the  apostle,  who  was  writing 
mainly  for  the  Gentiles. 

6  John  was  not  Elijah  in  the  sense  of  those  who  put  the  question,  i.e.,  he  was 
not  that  old  prophet  risen  from  the  dead ;  and  it  may  be  that  John  was  ignorant 
that,  by  coming  in  the  spirit  and  power  of  Elijah,  in  him  was  actually  fulfilled  the 
prophecy  of  Malachi  iv.  5. 

6  Exalted  in  dignity  above. 


282 


THE    LIFE   AND    WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 


28 1  am   not   worthy   to   unloose.     These   things   were   done   in 

29  Bethabara1  beyond  Jordan,  where  John  was  baptizing.     The 
next    day   John   seeth   Jesus   coming   unto    him,   and   saith, 
Behold  the  Lamb2  of  God,  which  taketh  3  away  the  sin  of  the 

30  world  !     This  4  is  He  of  whom  I  said,  After  me  cometh  a  man 

31  which  is  preferred  before  me ;  for  He  was  before  me.     And  I 
knew  Him   not :  but   that  He   should   be   made  manifest  to 

32  Israel,  therefore  am  I  come  baptizing  with  water.     And  John 
bare  record,  saying,  I  saw  5  the  Spirit  descending  from  heaven 

33  like  a  dove,  and  it  abode  upon  Him.     And  I  knew  Him  not : 
but  He  that  sent  me  to  baptize  with  water,  the  same  said  unto 
me,   Upon  whom  thou  shalt  see  the   Spirit  descending,  and 
remaining  on  Him,  the  same  is  He  which  baptizeth  with  the 

34 Holy  Ghost.    And  I  saw,  and  bare  record  that  this6  is  the  Son 
of  God. 

1  The  three  oldest  Codices,  the  Sinaitic,  Vatican,  and  Alexandrine,  have  Bethany 
in  place  of  Bethabara.     Such  is  also  the  reading  of  the  Syriac  version.    There  were 
probably  two  Bethanys ;  this  was  distinguished  from  the  one  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Jerusalem,  by  the   adjunct  "  beyond  Jordan."      Bethabara   was   suggested  by 
Origen,  as  no  other  Bethany  but  the  one  near  Jerusalem  was  known  to  him.     It 
was  on  the  eastern  side,  or  beyond  Jordan,  from  Jerusalem. 

2  It  is  to  be  constantly  borne  in  mind  that  the  evangelist  introduces  the  testi- 
mony of  the  Baptist  as  corroborative  of  his  own,  as  borne  in  this  Gospel.     He  bore 
testimony  not  only  to  the  dignity  and  pre-existent  nature  of  Jesus,  but  to  the 
atoning  or  sacrificial  character  of  His  work.     The  coming  of  Jesus  to  John  here 
spoken  of  was  doubtless  subsequent  to  His  baptism  and  His  temptation.     John  saw 
Him  as  He  emerged  from  that  fearful  encounter  in  the  wilderness.     The  paschal 
lamb,  and  the  lamb  in  the  daily  sacrifice,  were  typical  of  a  suffering  Saviour ;  but 
there  is  here  evidently  an  allusion  to  the  great  prophecy  in  Isaiah  liii.  7,  "He  is 
brought  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter." 

3  He  takes  away  sin  by  atoning  for  it,  so  as  to  exempt  all  who  believe  in  Him 
from  the  punishment  due  to  their  sins.      As  the  scapegoat  had  the  sins  of  Israel 
put  upon  its  head,  and  was  sent  away  into  the  wilderness,  so  He  bears  or  takes 
away  sin  (Lev.  xvi.  21). 

4  He  points  to  Jesus  in  person  as  the  One  to  whom  he  had  referred  on  the 
preceding  day  in  his  testimony. 

5  The  sign  at  Christ's  baptism  was  intended  specially  for  John  the  Baptist.     He 
saw  the  opening  heavens  and  the  descending   dove,  and  heard  the  voice  from 
heaven,  "  This  is  My  beloved  Son."     The  Sinaitic   MS.  omits  "  saying  "  and  for 
"  it  abode  "  reads  "  abiding." 

6  When  John  saw  the  appointed  sign  He  was  fully  qualified  for  His  appointed 
work.     The  voice  from  heaven  had  declared,   "  This  is  My  beloved  Son " ;  and 
John's  testimony  is  that  He  is  the  Son  of  God.    For  "  this  is  the  Son  of  God,"  the 
Alex.  Cod.  has,  "He  is  the  Son  of  God." 


ST.    JOHN    I.  283 

3.  Testimony  of  John  the   Baptist   to    his  own  followers,  whereby  Jesus 

wins  His  first  disciples  from  among  them. 

[Yer.  35-51. 

°5      Again   the   next   day  after,  John    stood,  and   two1    of  his 
*6  disciples ;   and  looking    upon  Jesus   as  He  walked,  he  saith, 

37  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God  !     And  the  two  disciples  heard  him 

38  speak,  and  they  followed  Jesus.     Then  Jesus  turned,2  and  saw 
them  following,  and  saith  unto  them,  What  seek  ye  ?     They 
said  unto  Him,  Rabbi,3  (which  is   to    say,  being   interpreted, 

39  Master,)  where  dwellest  Thou  ?     He   saith  unto  them,  Come 
and  see.     They  came  and  saw  where  He  dwelt,  and  abode  with 

40 Him  that  day  :  for  it  was  about  the  tenth4  hour.     One5  of  the 

two  which  heard  John  speak,  and  followed  Him,  was  Andrew, 

41  Simon   Peter's   brother.      He  first   findeth   his   own   brother 


1  These  two  disciples  of  John  the  Baptist  had  probably  heard  the  significant 
testimony  borne  by  him  the  preceding  day ;  for  John  now  simply  says,  "  Behold 
the  Lamb  of  God."     He  no  longer  speaks  to  the  multitude,  but  to  them  indi- 
vidually ;  they  are  called  to  behold  Him  as  their  Saviour.     "  They  followed  Jesus." 
It  was  the  beginning  of  their  faith.     They  walk  at  a  reverential  distance  behind 
Him. 

2  Jesus  does  not  repel,  but  encourages  them  to  come  nearer ;  He  did  not  wait 
for  them  to  speak  first. 

3  The  interpretation  which  is  given  in  the  text  of  such  words  as  Eabbi  and 
Babboni  proves  that  the  evangelist  wrote  primarily  for  those  who  did  not  under- 
stand the  language  spoken  by  the  Jews. 

4  The  Jews  divided  the  day  into  twelve  equal  parts  from   sunrise,  which  of 
course  were  longer  or  shorter  as  the  sun  rose  and  set  earlier  or  later,  so  that  the 
"  tenth  hour,"  if  we  are  to  suppose  that  John  adopts  their  method  of  noting  the 
hours,  would  correspond  to  our  four  o'clock  p.m.     The  Komans  commenced  their 
civil  day  at  midnight,  dividing  it  into  twelve  hours  till  the  noon  following,  and 
again  into  the  same  number  from  noon  till  midnight,  making  the  hours  of  equal 
length  at  all  seasons  of  the  year.     According  to  the  Koman  notation  (and  the  same 
is  ours),  it  was  about  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning,  or  two  hours  before  noon,  instead 
of  two  hours  before  sunset,  when  this  interview  took  place.     As  John  evidently 
adopts  the  Roman  reckoning  chap.  xix.  14,  there  can  be  little  doubt  he  does  the 
same  here.     If  he  felt  it  important  to  tell  his  readers  the  meaning  of  the  word 
Eabbi,  if  he  had  followed  the  Jewish  reckoning  here  he  would  doubtless  have  felt 
it  important  to  give  some  intimation  of  it ;  although  the  Greeks  and  Eomans  were 
not  unacquainted  with  the  Jewish  fashion  of  reckoning,  and  appear  sometimes 
to  have  made  use  of  it.     That  it  was  not  a  hurried  visit  in  the  evening,  but  an 
interview  extending  from  an  early  hour  in  the  day  till  night,  is  clearly  implied  by 
the  language  that  the  two  disciples  "  abode  with  Him  that  day." 

5  The  name  of  the  other  is  not  given  ;  there  can  be  little  doubt,  however,  it  was 
John,  the  author  of  this  Gospel,  as  in  other  instances  in  which  he  unmistakably 
refers  to  himself  he  carefully  suppresses  his  name.    When  he  wrote  his  Gospel  he 
was  an  old  man  ;  but  this  scene  in  his  youth,  on  the  far  distant  Jordan,  and  the 
very  hour  of  the  day  on  which  it  occurred,  rose  distinctly  before  his  view. 


284  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OP    ST.  JOHN. 

Simon,  and  saith  unto  him,  We  have  found l  the  Messias,  which 

42  is,  being  interpreted,  the    Christ.     And   he   brought  him    to 
Jesus.     And  when  Jesus  beheld  him,  He  said,  Thou  art  Simon 
the  son  of  Jona :  thou  shalt  be  called  Cephas,2  which  is  by 

43  interpretation,  A  stone.     The  day  3  following  Jesus  would  go 
forth  into    Galilee,  and   findeth    Philip,4  and  saith  unto  him, 

44  Follow  Me.     Now  Philip  was  of  Bethsaida,  the  city  of  Andrew 

45  and  Peter.     Philip  findeth  Nathanael,5  and  saith  unto  him,  We 
have  found  Him,  of  whom  Moses  in  the  law,  and  the  prophets, 

46  did   write,   Jesus   of    Nazareth,6   the   son   of   Joseph.      And 
Nathanael  said  unto  him,  Can  there  any  good  thing  come  out 

47  of  Nazareth  ?     Philip  saith  unto  him,  Come  and   see.     Jesus 
saw  Nathanael  coming  to  Him,  and  saith  of  him,  Behold  an 

48  Israelite  indeed,  in  whom  is  no  guile !     Nathanael  saith  unto 
Him,  Whence  knowest  Thou  me  ?    Jesus  answered   and   said 
unto  him,  Before  that  Philip  called  thee,  when  thou  wast  under 

49  the  fig  tree,7  I  saw  thee.     Nathanael  answered  and  saith  unto 
Him,  Kabbi,  Thou  art  the  Son  of  God ;  Thou  art  the  King  of 

1  It  is  clear  that  Andrew  and  John  were  fully  convinced  that  the  promised 
Bedeemer  had  come.     They  at  once  sought  another  young  man  from  Galilee, 
Simon,  the  brother  of  Andrew. 

2  The  Hebrew  word  for  rock ;  its  Greek  equivalent  is  Peter,  by  which  name  this 
apostle  is  usually  designated  in  the  New  Testament.     The  name  appears  to  refer 
less  to  his  character,  as  it  originally  was,  than  to  what  he  became,  as  the  leading 
apostle  in  laying  the  foundations  of  the  Church. 

8  The  sequence  of  the  events  is  very  carefully  noted.  We  have  had  the  "  next 
day"  twice,  and  now  we  have  "the  day  following,"  i.e.,  the  day  following  Peter's 
introduction  to  our  Lord,  and  the  next  but  one  after  the  visit  of  Andrew  and  John, 
and  the  next  but  two  after  the  witness  of  the  Baptist  to  the  deputation  from  the 
Sanhedrin. 

4  Philip  was  the  first  of  the  disciples  called  by  the  Lord  Himself.    He  instantly 
obeyed.     He  was  from  the  same  city,  doubtless  a  companion  of  Peter  and  Andrew. 

5  No  one  can  doubt  that,  silent  as  is  the  history  respecting  Philip,  this  early  zeal 
in  finding  and  preaching  Christ  to  Nathanael  was  the  type  of  his  later  and  more 
developed  piety.    Nathanael  is  commonly  supposed  to  be  the  same  who  is  known  in 
the  lists  of  the  apostles  as  Bartholomew.    He  is  mentioned  again  by  John,  chap, 
xxi.  2. 

6  Philip  keeps  back  nothing  of  his  belief,  not  even  that  which  he  might  fear 
would  awaken  the  prejudices  of  his  hearer.     He  tells  him  Jesus  is  of  Nazareth. 
Even  among  the  Galileans  Nazareth  seems  to  have  had  a  bad  name ;  and  Nathanael 
was  too  well  versed  in  the  Scriptures  not  to  know  that  Christ  must  be  born  in 
Bethlehem. 

7  He  had  gone  to  the  fig  tree  for  seclusion.    We  may  not  even  suppose  that 
Philip  knew  whither  he  had  gone,  or  how  he  was  engaged.     And  yet  before  Philip 
called  him  the  Lord  saw  him.     The  Divine  aspect  and  words  of  Jesus,  through 
the  gracious  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  convinced  Nathanael.    To  the  conversion  of 


ST.    JOHN    II.  285 

60  Israel.  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  him,  Because  I  said 
unto  thee,  I  saw  thee  under  the  fig  tree,  believest  thou  ?  thou 

51  shalt  see  greater  things  than  these.  And  He  saith  unto  him, 
Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  Hereafter  ye  shall  see  l  heaven 
open,  and  the  angels  of  God  ascending  and  descending  upon 
the  Son  of  man. 

4.  Jesus  manifests  His  glory  as  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father  or  the 

Messiah,  in  beginning  to  work  miracles,  by  turning  water  into  wine. 

II.]  [Ver.  1-11. 

And  the  third 2  day  there  was  a  marriage  in  Cana3  of  Galilee ; 

2  and  the  mother  of  Jesus  was  there  :  and  both  Jesus  was  called, 

3 and  His  disciples,  to  the  marriage.     And  when  they  wanted4 

wine,  the  mother  of  Jesus  saith  unto  Him,  They  have  no  wine. 

4  Jesus  saith  unto  her,  Woman,  what  have  I  to  do  with  thee  ? 

Nathanael  and  his  companions  is  given  this  prominent  place  by  the  inspired  evan- 
gelist, not  merely  because  they  were  to  become  apostles,  but  because  the  evidence 
that  convinced  them  ought  to  convince  every  candid,  right  minded  man. 

1  It  was  not  the  outward  visible  opening  of  the  material  heavens,  but  the  series 
of  glories  which  were  about  to  be  unfolded  in  His  person  and  work,  that  the  Lord 
announces.    By  this  figurative  language  He  intended  to  represent  His  mediation. 
He  spanned  and  bridged  the  gulf  that  separated  man  from  his  Maker.    Nathanael 
and  other  disciples,  by  the  miracles  and  wonders  that  attended  Him,  but  especially  by 
His  gracious  work  in  saving  sinners,  were  able  to  comprehend  the  glory  of  Christ  as 
Mediator,  just  as  if  they  saw  heaven  opened,  and  a  shining  way  stretching  up  to  it 
from  His  cross,  on  which  glorified  and  beatified  spirits  were  passing  in  rejoicing 
throngs. 

"  The  ladder  still  is  set, 
And  angel  visitants  still  come  and  go  ; 
Many  bright  messengers  are  moving  yet 

From  the  dark  world  below  : 
Spirits  elect,  through  sufferings  rendered  meet 

For  those  high  mansions  ;  from  the  nursery  floor, 
Bright  babes  that  climb  up  with  their  clay-cold  feet 

Unto  the  golden  door. 
These  are  messengers  for  ever  wending 

From  earth  to  heaven,  that  faith  alone  may  scan ; 
These  are  the  angels  of  our  God  ascending 
Upon  the  Son  of  man." 

2  It  was  the  third  day  after  that  on  which  Jesus  found  Philip  and  Philip  brought 
Nathanael  to  Jesus. 

3  Dr.  Eobinson,  differing  from  most  modern  travellers  who  had  preceded  him, 
finds  the  site  of  this  Cana  at  a  ruin,  north  of  Seffurieh,  and  about  three  hours 
distant  north  east  from  Nazareth,  called  Kana  el-Jelil.    It  was  about  fifty  miles 
from  Bethany  on  the  Jordan,  or  Bethabara. 

4  It  is  not  necessary  to  attribute  the  failure  of  the  wine  either  to  the  improvidence 
of  the  bridegroom  or  the  intemperance  of  the  guests,  but  rather  to  the  unexpected 
number  of  the  guests,  increased  perhaps  because  Jesus  was  there,  as  the  nuptial 
feast  might  be  attended  not  only  by  those  specially  invited,  but  by  as  many  as  chose 


286  THE    LIFE   AND   WEITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

5  Mine  hour  is  not  yet  come.     His  mother  saith  unto  the  servants, 

6  Whatsoever  He  saith  unto  you,  do  it.     And  there  were  set 
there  six  waterpots  l  of  stone,  after  the  manner  of  the  puri- 
fying  of  the   Jews,  containing  two   or   three   firkins   apiece. 

7  Jesus  saith  unto  them,  Fill  the  waterpots  with  water.     And 

8  they  filled  them  up  to  the  brim.     And  He  saith  unto  them, 
Draw  out  now,  and  bear  unto  the  governor  of  the  feast.     And 

9  they  bare  it.     When  the  ruler  of  the  feast  had  tasted  the  water 
that  was  made  wine,2  and  knew  not  whence  it  was :   (but  the 
servants  which  drew  the  water  knew;)  the  governor  of  the  feast 

10  called  the  bridegroom,  and  saith  unto  him,  Every  man  at  the 
beginning  doth  set  forth  good  wine ;  and  when  men  have  well 
drunk,  then  that  which  is  worse  :  but  thou  hast  kept  the  good 

11  wine  until  now.     This  beginning  of  miracles  did  Jesus  in  Cana 
of  Galilee,  and  manifested  3  forth  His  glory ;  and  His  disciples 
believed  on  Him. 

to  bring  presents.  The  Sinaitic  MS.  reads,  And  they  had  no  wine,  because  the  wine  of 
the  marriage  was  finished.  Thus  it  appears  that  this  beginning  of  our  Lord's  miracles 
was  not  performed  in  a  corner,  but  in  the  presence  of  a  numerous  company. 

1  Large  stone  jars,  or  vessels  for  bathing  or  purifying  according  to  the  custom  of 
the  Jews.    Here  we  have  one  of  those  numerous  instances  in  which  John  has  clearly 
in  view  readers  not  familiar  with  Jewish  customs. 

2  In  an  instant,  by  an  invisible  power,  was  an  ample  supply  of  wine  provided  for 
the  unexpected  throng  of  guests.     The  miracle  consisted  in  converting  the  sub- 
stance of  water  into  that  which  is  the  joint  product  of  the  fruit  of  the  vine  and 
human  skill  and  labour,  or  by  His  creative  energy  imparting  to  simple  water  all  the 
qualities  of  wine.      "  Lympha  pudica  Deum  vidit,  et  erubuit."  (CRASHAW,  1634.) 
["The  conscious  water  saw  its  God  and  blushed,"  translated  by  Sydney  Smith.] 
There  was  no  violation  of  the  laws  of  nature  ;  the  power  of  Him  who  ordained  these 
laws  was  simply  interposed,  and  this  interposition  being  a  new  and  peculiar  ante- 
cedent required  a  new  and  peculiar  result.     He  did  not  invoke  any  name  ;  He  did 
not  even  speak,  as  He  did  on  many  other  occasions.     He  simply  put  forth  a  creative 
fiat,  and  the  water  became  wine. 

3  It  is  never  said  that  the  miracles  which  the  prophets  performed,  before  Christ, 
or  His  apostles  after  Him,  manifested  forth  their  glory.     They  were  mere  instru- 
ments in  the  performance  of  these  mighty  works,  while  God  was  the  real  Author  of 
them.     Christ  performed  miracles,  not  instrumentally,  but  immediately  and  directly 
by  His  own  inherent  and  underived  power.     A  miracle  is  seeming  interruption  to,  or 
sensible  variation  from,  the  laws  of  nature,  performed  by  the  direct  operation  of  the 
Power  which  created  and  governs  the  universe.    "  The  laws  of  nature  surely  are  not 
violated,"  says  Dr.  Brown,  the  successor  of  Dugald  Stewart,  "  when  a  new  ante- 
cedent is  followed  by  a  new  consequent ;  they  are  violated  only  when,  the  antecedent 
being  exactly  the  same,  a  different  consequent  is  the  result.     A  miracle  therefore 
has  nothing  in  it  which  is  inconsistent  with  our  belief  of  the  most  undeviating  uni- 
formity of  nature  ;  for  it  is  not  the  sequence  of  a  different  event  when  the  preceding 
circumstances  have  been  the  same,  it  is  an  effect  which  is  new  to  our  observation, 
because  it  is  the  result  of  new  and  peculiar  circumstances." 


ST.     JOHN    II.  287 

5.  He  exhibits  His  control  over  the  wills  of  men  at  the  cleansing  of  the 

temple. 

[Ver.  12-25. 

12  After  this  He  went  down  to  Capernaum,1  He,  and  His  mother, 
and  His  brethren,  and  His  disciples ;  and  they  continued  there 

13  not  many  days.     And  the   Jews'  passover2  was  at  hand,  and 

14  Jesus  went  up  to  Jerusalem,  and  found  in  the  temple  those  that 
sold  oxen,  and  sheep,  and  doves,  and  the  changers  of  money 

15  sitting  :  and  when  He  had  made  a  scourge3  of  small  cords,  He 
drove  them  all  out  of  the  temple,  and  the  sheep,  and  the  oxen  ; 
and  poured  out  the  changers'  money,  and  overthrew  the  tables ; 

16  and  said  unto  them  that  sold  doves,  Take  these  things  hence ; 

17  make  not  My  Father's  house  a  house  of  merchandise.4     And 
His  disciples  remembered  that  it  was  Written,  The  zeal  of  Thine 

1  Capernaum.     The  Sinaitic  and  Vatican  MSS.  have  Capharnaum.     Dr.  Kobinson, 
after  a  very  thorough  examination,  determines  the  site  of  this  place  to  have  been  on 
the  western  shore  of  the  sea,  known  as  the  region  of  Gennesaret.     Christ  was  soon 
to  make  His  first  official  visit  to  Jerusalem. 

2  St.  John  mentions  four  passovers  as  occurring  during  our  Lord's  public  ministry. 
That  referred  to  here  was  the  first.     The  "  feast  of  the  Jews,"  chap.  v.  1,  was  the 
second.    The  third  is  recorded  in  vi.  4  ;  and  the  last,  at  which  He  suffered,  in  xii.  1, 
proving  that  His  ministry  must  have  continued  three  and  a  half  years. 

3  His  taking  a  scourge  in  His  hands  was  only  a  part  of  this  great  symbolical 
transaction.     It  was  not  for  the  infliction  of  pain  on  the  innocent  animals,  or  their 
owners  and  purchasers,  but  part  of  the  mere  insignia  of  His  authority. 

4  The  cleansing  of  the  temple,  involving,  as  it  did,  control  over  the  wills  of  men, 
can  be  regarded  as  nothing  less  than  a  miracle.     Some,  as  Origen  and  Jerome,  have 
regarded  it  as  the  most  wonderful  of  all  the  wonderful  works  of  Christ,  exhibiting 
in  the   fullest   manner   the   Messianic  character   and    Divine   glory  of    Him   who 
wrought  it.     The  great  number  of  sacrifices  required  at  the  passover  must  have 
required  a  large  supply  of  animals.     Their  sellers  and  purchasers,  and  the  brokers 
who  were  in  attendance  to  exchange  foreign  for  current  money,  must  have  consti- 
tuted a  numerous  throng.    They  were  there  by  permission  of  the  constituted  author- 
ities.    Here,  under  the  very  eyes  of  the  priests,  and  within  the  sacred  precincts 
of  the  temple,  the  crowds  of  strangers  might  be  sure  of  obtaining  animals  duly  in- 
spected, and  meeting  with  honest  dealing.    It  was  as  much  for  the  interests  of  these 
crowds  as  of  the  market  men  and  exchangers  that  the  use  to  which  the  court  of  the 
Gentiles  had  been  appropriated  should  not  be  disturbed.    But  a  Galilean  Stranger 
enters ;  He  has  no  retinue  save  some  five  or  six  Galileans,  poor  men  like  Himself. 
His  command  is  instantly  obeyed  when  He  said,  "  Take  these  things  hence."    Why 
did  not  avarice,  and  resentment,  and  those  violent  passions  which  govern  mercenary 
minds,  prompt  them  to  resist  ?     An  invisible  power  accompanied  Him.     HE  had 
suddenly  come  to  His  temple,  of  whom  the  last  of  the  prophets  had  asked,  "  Who 
shall  stand  when  He  appeareth?  "  (Mai.  iii.  2.) 

It  is  worthy  of  notice,  and  not  without  instruction,  that  this  miracle  with  which 
our  Lord  opened  His  public  ministry  at  Jerusalem  was  repeated  by  Him  at  its  close 
(Matt.  xxi.  12,  13 ;  Mark  xi.  15-19  ;  Luke  xix.  45-48).  These  purgations,  both  at 
the  beginning  and  at  the  close  of  His  public  ministry,  were  decisive  acts  of  Messianic 


288  THE   LIFE   AND  WEITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

18  house  hath  eaten  Me  up.     Then  answered  the  Jews  and  said 
unto  Him,  What  sign  showest  Thou  unto  us,  seeing  that  Thou 

19  doest  these  things  ?    Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  them,  De- 

20  stroy  this  temple,1  and  in  three  days  I  will  raise  it  up.     Then 
said  the  Jews,  Forty  and  six  years  2  was  this  temple  in  building, 

21  and  wilt  Thou  rear  it  up  in  three  days  ?     But  He  spake  of  the 

22  temple  of  His  body.     When  therefore  He  was  risen  from  the 
dead,  His  disciples  remembered  that  He  had  said  this  unto 
them ;  and  they  believed  the  Scripture,  and  the  word  which 

23  Jesus  had  said.     Now  when  He  was  in  Jerusalem  at  the  pass- 
over,  in  the  feast  day,  many  believed  in  His  name,  when  they 

24  saw  the  miracles  3  which  He  did.     But  Jesus  did  not  commit 

25  Himself  unto  them,  because  He  knew  all  men,  and  needed  not 
that  any  should  testify  of  man ;  for  He  knew  what  was  in  man. 

6.  The  conviction  wrought  in  the  mind  of  one  of  the  most  intelligent  of 
the  Jews,  a  member  of  their  great  council,  that  Jesus  was  the  promised 
Saviour. 
III.]  [Yer.  1-21. 

1  There  was  a  man  of  the  Pharisees,  named  Nicodemus/  a 

2  ruler  of  the  Jews  :  the  same  came  to  Jesus  by  night,5  and  said 

power,  which  involved  a  direct  claim  on  the  part  of  our  Lord  to  that  high  character 
and  office.  They  were  miracles  by  which  He  manifested  His  Divinity  and  authority, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  shadowed  forth  the  holiness  of  His  kingdom,  or  the  effect  of 
His  coming  on  the  moral  and  religious  interests  of  men. 

1  Temple.     The  Jews  understood  Him  to  refer  to  the  edifice  where  they  were  as- 
sembled ;  but  He  used  language  in  a  highly  symbolical  sense.     The  temple  was  but 
a  type  of  that  body  which  enshrined  His  wonderful  person  as  the  God-man.     His 
resurrection  from  the  dead  made  all  clear  to  His  disciples. 

2  The  temple  of  Herod  was  begun  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  Herod's  reign,  twenty 
years  before  the  birth  of  Christ,  according  to  the  Dionysian  reckoning ;  add  the  age 
of  our  Lord,  thirty  years,  and  we  have  fifty,  from  which  take  the  four  years  required 
for  the  correction  of  our  era,  and  we  have  the  exact  period  of  forty-six  years. 

3  The  purification  of  the  temple  is  the  only  miracle  recorded  at  this  His  first  visit 
to  Jerusalem.     There  can  be  no  doubt  He  performed  others  (chap.  iii.  2,  xxi.  25). 
Many  believed  in  Him  as  the  Messiah  when  they  saw  His  miracles.     Their  senses 
were  strongly  impressed,  but  their  faith  was  such  only  as  men  have  who  walk  by 
sight.    Hence  Jesus,  who  knew  what  was  in  men,  did  not  commit  Himself  to  them. 

4  Nicodemus  belonged  to  the  ruling  sect  among  the  Jews,  the  Pharisees ;  he  was 
also  a  member  of  the  Sanhedrin,  the  Areopagus  of  the  Hebrew  nation.     It  was 
composed  of  some  seventy  of  the  most  learned  and  distinguished  men  to  be  found 
in  the  nation.     The  conviction  wrought  in  the  mind  of  such  a  man,  so  capable  of 
forming  an  intelligent  judgment,  so  little  likely  to  be  led  astray,  was  well  suited  to 
the  evangelist's  object  in  setting  forth  to  the  great  Gentile  world  His  claims  as  the 
Messiah  and  the  Word  of  God. 

5  The  fact  that  Nicodemus  came  to  Jesus  by  night  has  often  been  interpreted 


ST.    JOHN    III.  289 

unto  Him,  Rabbi,  we  know  that  Thou  art  a  teacher  come  from 

God  :  for  no  man  can  do  these  miracles  that  Thou  doest,  except 

*   God  be  with  him.     Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  him,  Verily, 

verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  except  a  man  be  born l  again,  he  can- 

4  not  see  the  kingdom  of   God.     Nicodemus   saith  unto  Him, 
How2  can  a  man  be  born  when  he  is  old?  can  he  enter  the 

5  second  time  into  his  mother's  womb,  and  be  born  ?      Jesus 
answered,  Yerily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  Except  a  man  be  born 
of  water  3  and  of  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom 

6  of  God.     That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh  ;4  and  that 


(perhaps  most  usually)  as  proof  of  his  moral  cowardice.    But  the  work  of  conviction 
in  Nicodemus  cannot  be  supposed  at  this  time  to  have  proceeded  so  far  as  to  justify    f 
this  view ;  nor  had  the  hostility  to  Jesus,  on  the  part  of  his  associates,  been  so  early 
developed  as  to  lead  him  to  wish  to  conceal  his  interview.     The  evangelist  does  not,   I 
either  expressly  or  by  implication,  attribute  fear  to  Nicodemus.     There  was  a  tra-    ( 
dition  among  the  Jews  that  the  night  was  the  most  appropriate  time  for  the  study 
of  religious  subjects,  by  which  Nicodemus,  as  a  rabbi  and  Pharisee,  would  be  apt  to 
be  influenced.     Or,  as  he  was  a  member  of  the  Sanhedrin,  and  the  business  of  that 
body  would  be  greatly  increased  at  the  time  of  the  Passover,  the  night  might  have 
been  the  only  opportunity  for  such  an  interview  as  he  desired.     Moreover,  as  Jesus  j 
would  be  surrounded  by  crowds  during  the  day,  night  was  the  only  season  when  he 
could  hope  for  a  private  interview. 

1  Nicodemus  is  given  to  understand  that  the  kingdom  is  not  an  external,  but  an 
internal,  invisible  kingdom,  the  title  to  which  must  rest  on  a  renewed  spiritual  con- 
dition, independent  of  natural  birth,  and  necessary  to  every  son  and  daughter  of 
Abraham  and  of  Adam. 

2  So  long  had  Nicodemus  been  accustomed  to  look  upon  descent  as  contributing  a 
title  to  membership  in  God's  kingdom,  and  so  thoroughly  had  this  been  inwrought 
with  his  most  intimate  convictions,  that  he  understands  Christ  as  speaking  literally 
of  natural  birth. 

3  "Born  again "  now  becomes  "born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit."     Seeing  be- 
comes entering  the  kingdom.      The  Spirit,  the  Agent  in  this  indispensable  renewal, 
is  expressly  mentioned,  and  the  water  is  joined  with   the  Spirit,  because,  as  it 
purifies  in  washing,  the  Spirit  purifies  and  sanctifies  the  soul,  by  the  washing  of 
regeneration.      The  Divine  Teacher  meant  by  being  born  of  water  that  we  must  be 
born  again  by  the  word  of  God ;  in  complete  harmony  with  which  we  find  the 
apostle  Paul,  when  describing  the  same  great  change,  saying  that  we  must  be  sanc- 
tified and  cleansed,  "with  the  washing  of  water  by  the  word  "  (Eph.  v.  26).      The 
sacrament  of  baptism,  not  then  instituted  as  a  Christian  rite,  cannot  be  alluded  to, 
though  it  is  understood  by  Lutherans  as  well  as  Komanists.     Calvin-and  the  able 
expounder  of  his  doctrines,  Beza,  understood  the  expression  "  born  of  water  "  as 
exegetical,  or  explanatory  of  the  expression  "born  of  the  Spirit."      Zwingle,  the 
great  Swiss  reformer,  interprets  "  water"  as  a  figurative  designation  of  "  knowledge, 
clearness,  heavenly  light,"  i.e.  the  knowledge  or  light  that  comes  through  the  word, 
and    which  the  Holy  Spirit  employs   as  the  instrument    in    renewing  the   soul. 
This,  comparing  Scripture  with  Scripture,  seems  to  be  the  true  interpretation  (John 
i.  11-13  ;  2  Thess.  ii.  13  ;  Jas.  i.  18  ;  Eph.  v.  25,  26  ;  Tit.  iii.  5-7). 

4  Is  flesh,  is  corrupt,  and  must  in  all  cases  be  corrupt,  because  it  is  so  born. 

U 


290  THE    LIFE    AND    WEITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

7  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  spirit.1     Marvel  not  that  I  said 

8  unto  thee,  Ye  must  be  born  again.     The  wind  bloweth  where 
it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the  sound  thereof,  but  canst  not  tell 
whence  it  cometh,  and  whither  it  goeth :  so  is  every  one  that 

9  is  born  of  the  Spirit.     Nicodemus  answered  and   said  unto 

10  Him,  How  can  these  things  be  ?     Jesus  answered  and  said 
unto  him,  Art  thou  a  master  of  Israel,  and  knowest  not  these 

11  things  ?     Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  We  speak  that  we  do 
know,  and  testify  that  we  have  seen ;  and  ye  receive  not  our 

12  witness.     If  I  have  told  you  earthly 2  things,  and  ye  believe 

13  not,  how  shall  ye  believe,  if  I  tell  you  of  heavenly  things  ?   And 
no  man  hath  ascended  up  to  heaven  but  He  that  came  down 

14  from  heaven,  even  the  Son  of  man  which  is  in  heaven.3     And 
as  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  even  so  must 

•15  the  Son  of  man  be  lifted  *  up :  that  whosoever  believeth  in 

16  Him  should  not  perish,  but  have  eternal  life.     For  God  so 5 

loved  the  world,  that  He  gave  His  only  begotten  Son,  that  who- 

1  Is  spirit ;  a  new  spiritual  principle,  something  which  did  not  exist  before,  wrought 
in  the  heart,  by  which  the  will  is  restored  to  somewhat  of  its  original  rectitude,  and 
obedience  of  the  soul  as  well  as  of  the  life  is  secured.     The  flesh  represents  the  old 
corrupt  nature,  the  spirit  the  new.      Again  solemnly  announcing  the  truth,  "Ye 
must  be  born  again,"  He  directed  his  attention  to  the  night  wind,  as  it  soughed 
through  the  olives  of  the  mountains  or  moaned  round  the  city's  roofs,  and  told  him, 
as  he  could  not  tell  whence  it  cometh  and  whither  it  goeth,  so  it  is  with  the  breath 
of  the  Divine  Spirit  as  it  comes  forth  from  God,  and  reaches  and  influences  the 
heart  of  man. 

2  The  things  connected  with  this  birth,  taking  place  in  this  world,  which  are 
matters  of  human  necessity  and  experience,  are  the  "  earthly  things" ;  the  "  heavenly 
things  "  are  those  which  relate  more  especially  to  the  unseen  and  heavenly,  and  the 
deeper  mysteries  of  religion. 

3  The  two  oldest  MSS.  do  not  have  "  which  is  in  heaven." 

It  is  not  difficult  to  conceive  how,  as  the  light  dawned  on  a  mind  like  that  of 
Nicodemus,  so  candid  and  so  much  in  earnest,  under  the  teachings  of  Jesus,  in 
regard  to  the  nature  of  His  kingdom  and  the  qualifications  for  admission  to  it, 
powerful  convictions  must  have  been  wrought  in  him,  and  he  was  led  to  put  his  sole 
trust  in  Jesus  as  the  only  begotten  Son  of  God,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  performed  His 
effectual  work,  and  that  which  had  been  born  of  the  flesh  was  born  of  the  Spirit. 

4  Our  Lord,  in  His    discourse  to    Nicodemus    having   first  pressed  upon  the 
necessity  of  regeneration,  next  proceeded  to  give  prominence  to  the  great  doctrine 
of  atonement  for  sin,  and  the  necessity  of  holiness  and  faith.     This  master  in 
Israel  was  perfectly  familiar  with  the  historical  incident  employed,  and  perhaps  no 
one  was  better  prepared  to  appreciate  the  application  our  Saviour  made  of  it.   There 
can  be  no  doubt  he  believed.     The  evidence  of  his  sincere  discipleship  appears 
again  and  again,  in  the  notices  of  him  in  the  Gospel  of  this  evangelist. 

5  We  have  in  verses  16,  17,  one  of  the  brightest  jewels  among  the  words  of 
Jesus,  the  gospel  in  miniature.      In  the  little  monosyllable  so  there  seems  to  be  an 
acknowledgment  of  the  insufficiency  of  human  speech  to  set  forth  the  Father's 


ST.    JOHN    III.  291 

soever  believetli  in  Him  should  not  perish,  but  have l  everlast- 

IV  ing  life.     For  God  sent  not  His  Son  into  the  world  to  condemn 

the  world ;  but  that  the  world 2  through  Him  might  be  saved. 

18  He  that  believeth  on  Him  is  not  condemned : 3  but  he  that  be- 
lieveth  not  is  condemned  already,  because  he  hath  not  believed 

19  in  the  name  of  the  only  begotten  Son  of  God.     And  this  is  the 
condemnation,  that  light  .is  come  into  the  world,  and  men  loved 

20  darkness  rather  than  light,  because  their  deeds  were  evil.     For 
every  one  that  doeth  evil  hateth  the  light,  neither  cometh  to 

21  the  light,  lest  his  deeds  should  be  reproved.    But  he  that  doeth 
truth  cometh  to  the  light,  that  his  deeds  may  be  made  manifest, 
that  they  are  wrought  in  God. 

7.  The  final  and  most  complete  testimony  of  that  great  prophet  and 
holy  man,  John  the  Baptist,  to  the  Divine  mission  and  Messiahship  of 
Jesus. 

[Ver.  22-36. 

22  After  these  things  came  Jesus  and  His  disciples  into  the 
land4   of   Judaea;    and    there    He    tarried   with    them,    and 

23 baptized.5     And   John6  also  was  baptizing  in  .^Enon  near  to 

infinite  and  eternal  love  in  the  gift  of  His  Son.  In  the  language  used  there  is  no 
mockery  of  mere  words  ;  it  is  love  that  finds  fit  expression  in  deed  rather  than  in 
words. 

1  Life  is  in  Him  already,  initially,  who  believes  in  Jesus  ;  the  death  of  the  body 
is  but  a  necessary  incident  in  this  great  salvation. 

2  "  The  world  "  is  repeated  again  and  again  ;  and  it  is  the  whole  world  which  God 
loved,  and  for  which  He  gave  His  Son.     The  only  limitation  of  the  gift  of  everlasting 
life,  through  this  love  of  God,  is  found  in  the  words,  "  whosoever  believeth  in 
Him." 

3  It  is  the  manifestation  of  infinite  love  which  leads  to  the  deeper  condemnation 
of  all  who  are  unmoved  by  it  and  neglect  the  salvation  it  has  provided.     The  un- 
belief of  men,  or  rejection  of  the  blessings  offered  in  the  gospel,  is  judgment  against 
themselves. 

Truly  remarkable  was  the  discourse  which  Nicodemus  heard  from  the  lips  of 
Jesus  on  that  night.  As  John  is  the  only  one  of  the  evangelists  who  makes  record 
of  his  interview  and  of  this  discourse,  it  may  be  that  he  alone  was  present.  Matthew, 
the  only  other  apostle  among  the  writers  of  the  Gospels,  had  not  yet  been  called. 
And  it  may  be  true,  of  some  other  discourses  which  John  only  records,  that  he  alone 
was  present  to  hear  them. 

4  "  The  land  of  Judaea  "  is  used  in  distinction  from  the  city  or  Jerusalem.     The 
meaning  is  that  He  left  the  city  and  went  into  the  country  or  rural  parts  of  Judaea. 

5  That  is,  His  disciples  baptized  :  John  iv.  2. 

6  The  reason  why  John  the  Evangelist  makes  so  much  of  the  testimony  of  John 
the  Baptist  probably  was  that  at  Ephesus,  from  which  place  he  wrote,  and  in  Asia 
Minor  generally,  he  had  encountered  some  of  those  Jews,  or  the  influence  of  their 
teaching,  who  knew  only  the  baptism  of  John,  and  had  not  so  much  as  heard  "  whether 


292  THE    LIFE   AND    WRITINGS   OP   ST.  JOHN. 

Salim,1  because  there  was  much  water  there  :  and  they  came,  and 

24  were  baptized.     For  John  was  not  yet  cast  into  prison.     Then 

25  there  arose  a  question  between  some  of  John's  disciples  and 

26  the  Jews 2  about  purifying.     And  they  came  3  unto  John,  and 
said  unto  him,  Rabbi,  He  that  was  with  thee  beyond  Jordan, 
to  whom  thou  barest  witness,  behold,  the  same  baptizeth,  and 

27  all  men  come  to  Him.     John  answered  and  said,  A  man  can 

28  receive  nothing,  except  it  be  given  him   from  heaven.      Ye 


there  be  any  Holy  Ghost"  (Acts  xviii.  25,  xix.  2).  Apollos,  one  of  this  class,  an 
eloquent  man  and  mighty  in  the  Scriptures,  had  been  found  at  Ephesus  by 
Priscilla  and  Aquila.  Paul  found  there  a  singular  sort  of  half  Christians,  twelve  in 
number,  who  became  the  nucleus  of  the  church  he  founded.  It  has  been  supposed 
that  from  the  Jews  visiting  Palestine,  who  received  their  knowledge  of  the  Messiah 
from  the  Baptist,  and  carried  with  them  this  knowledge  on  returning  to  their  homes, 
at  a  later  period  sprung  a  heretical  sect,  the  Zabeans,  who  held  John  the  Baptist  to 
have  been  himself  the  Messiah.  (See  Sehaff's  History  of  Apost.  Church,  p.  279.) 

An  educated  Jewish  gentleman,  whom  the  author  knew  well  as  he  was  his  neigh- 
bour for  several  years,  once  told  him  that  there  was  still  a  society  or  sect  among  the 
Jews,  professing  to  be  the  disciples  of  John  and  accepting  his  testimony  in  regard 
to  Jesus,  who  were  in  possession  of  records  and  documents,  dating  back  to  the  very 
time  of  John,  and  which  they  guarded  with  the  most  scrupulous  care.  »He  pro- 
fessed to  be  one  of  their  number,  and .  said  that  many  of  the  most  highly  educated 
and  wealthy  of  his  nation  belonged  to  this  sect.  He  represented  it  to  be  one  of  the 
strictest  of  their  laws  that  no  one  should  act  on  his  own  individual  behalf  in  pro- 
fessing his  faith,  but  all  were  to  wait  till  the  heads  or  leaders  of  their  order  should 
intimate  the  time  when  all  were  to  profess  Christianity  together.  He  claimed  to 
be  impatient  for  the  time  to  arrive. 

1  Dr.  Eobinson  on  his  second  visit  failed  to  find  any  trace  of  either  name  or  re- 
mains of  this  place,  at  its  traditionary  site,  some  eight  miles  south  of  Scythopolis 
(Bib.  Ees.,  iii.  333).     And  the  demands  of  the  narrative  seem  to  require  that  the 
locality  should  be  found  nearer  Jerusalem  in  Judaea,  as  the  disciples  of  Jesus  and 
John  were  evidently  baptizing  at  the  same  place   or  in  immediate  vicinity.     Dr. 
Barclay  reports  (City  of  the  Great  King,  pp.  558-570)  the  discovery  of  ^Enon  in  a 
secluded  valley,  Wady  Farah,  about  five  miles  to  the  north  east  of  Jerusalem.      He 
found  here  very  copious  springs  (vdara  TroXXd),  and  the  name  of  Selam  or  Seleina, 
another  wady  near  by.      The  W.  Farah  runs  into  the  great  W.  Fuwar  immediately 
above  Jericho. 

2  The  most  ancient  MSS.  (Sinaitic,  Vatican,  and  Alexandrine)  have  the  reading  "  a 
Jew."      The  question  between  them  probably  related  to  the  comparative  merits  of 
baptismal  purification  and  the  ablutions  or  purifications  of  the  Mosaic  law.      It  is 
not  improbable  that  the  Jew  in  this  dispute  referred  to  the  fact  that  Jesus,  to  whom 
John  had  borne  testimony  as  mightier  than  he,  was  baptizing,  and  contended  that 
if  the  purifyings  instituted  by  Moses  were  superseded  by  the  baptism  of  John,  then 
that  of  John  must  take  an  inferior  place  to  that  of  Jesus. 

3  It  was  their  appeal  to  then:  master  which  led  him  again  in  so  emphatic  a  manner 
to  bear  testimony  to  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus.     To  illustrate  the  superiority  of  Jesus 
to  himself,  John  employs  a  simile  drawn  from  the  nuptial  ceremony  of  the  Jews. 
He  compares  Jesus  to  the  bridegroom,  and  himself  to  the  paranymph,  or  friend  of 
the  bridegroom. 


ST.    JOHN   IV.  293 

yourselves  bear  me  witness,  that  I  said,  I  am  not  the  Christ, 

29  but  that    I  am  sent  before  Him.     He  that  hath  the  bride  is 
the  bridegroom:    but  the    friend   of  the  bridegroom,   which 
standeth  and   heareth  him,  rejoiceth   greatly   because    of   the 

30  bridegroom's  voice :   this  my  joy   therefore   is   fulfilled.     He 

31  must  increase,  but  I  must  decrease.1     He 2  that  cometh  from 
above  is  above  all :  he   that  is  of   the   earth  is  earthly,  and 
speaketh  of  the  earth :  He  that  cometh  from  heaven  is  above 

32  all.    And  what  He  hath  seen  and  heard,  that  He  testifieth ;  and 

33  no  man  receiveth  His  testimony.     He  that  hath  received  His 

34  testimony  hath  set  to  his  seal  that    God  is   true.     For    He 
whom  God  hath   sent  speaketh  the  words  of   God :  for  God 

35  giveth  not  the    Spirit   by   measure   unto   Him.     The    Father 

36  loveth  the  Son,  and  hath  given  all  things  into  His  hand.     He 
that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting  life :  and  he  that 
believeth  not  the  Son  shall  not  see  life ;  but  the  wrath  of  God 
abideth  on  him. 

8.  The  Messiahship  of  Jesus  acknowledged  among  those  natural  enemies 

of  His  nation,  the  Samaritans. 

IV.]  [Ver.  1-42. 

1      When  therefore  the  Lord  knew  how  the  Pharisees  had  heard 

that   Jesus    made    and   baptized   more   disciples   than    John, 

1  It  is  to  be  remembered  that  John  the  Baptist  was  in  the  prime  and  vigour  of  his 
days,  and  that  the  words  before  us  therefore  are  those  of  a  young  man.      He  was 
a  few  months  older  than  Jesus,  and  it  is  supposed  entered  on  his  ministry  about  six 
months  before  Jesus.     About  the  same  length  of  time  after  Jesus  entered  on  His 
ministry  the  ministry  of  John  was  brought  to  a  close. 

2  Many  excellent  critics  (such  as  Bengel,  Olshausen,  and  Tholuck)  have  considered 
the  verses  from  the  31st  to  the  end  of  the  chapter  as  containing  the  words  of 
the  evangelist  rather  than  of  John  the  Baptist.     But  almost  all  ancient  and  most 
modern  commentators  of  the  evangelical  school  adopt  the  view  that  they  must  be 
those  of  the  Baptist.     "  There  is  a  complete  connection  of  these  words  with  the  pre- 
ceding, without  the  interposition  of  any  expression  from  which  it  could  be  inferred 
that  what  follows  is  from  the  evangelist.      And  there  are  obvious  reasons  why  this 
passage  should  be  from  John  the  Baptist ;  for  in  it  he  seems  to  have  intended  to 
advert  to  the  reasons  confirming  what  he  had  said,  namely,  that  the  precedence  is 
due  not  to  him  but  to  Jesus.    It  is,  he  means  to  say,  only  just  that  His  fame  should 
be  spread  abroad,  and  the  number  of  His  disciples  increased,  inasmuch  as  He  was  sent 
from  heaven,  endowed  with  gifts  immeasurably  great ;  nay,  was  the  beloved  Son  of 
God,  the  Lord  and  promised  Saviour  of  the  human  race."      (Tittmann  in  Bloomf.) 
He  had  before  established  the  distinction  between  Christ  and  himself,  in  the  pre- 
existence  of  Christ ;  he  now  establishes  it  further  in  this,  that  the  origin  of  Christ 
cannot  be  referred  to  a  mere  human  descent ;  "  He  that  cometh  from  heaven  is 
above  all."     (See  also  Dr.  J.  J.  Owen's  excellent  Commentary,  in  loco.) 


294  THE   LIFE   AND  WKITINGS    OP    ST.  JOHN. 

2,3  (though  Jesus  himself  baptized  not,  but  His  disciples,)  He  left 1 

4  Judaea,  and  departed  again  into  Galilee.     And  He  must  needs  2 

5  go  through  Samaria.     Then  cometh  He  to  a  city  of  Samaria, 
which  is  called  Sychar,3  near  to  the  parcel  of  ground  that  Jacob 

6  gave  to  his  son  Joseph.     Now  Jacob's  well  was  there.    Jesus 
therefore,  being  wearied  with  His  journey,  sat   thus  on  the 

7  well :    and  it  was  about  the   sixth 4  hour.     There  cometh  a 
woman  of  Samaria  to  draw  water :  Jesus  saith  unto  her,  Give 

8  Me  to  drink.     (For  His  disciples  were  gone  away  unto  the  city 

9  to  buy  meat.)     Then  saith  the  woman  of  Samaria  unto  Him, 
How  is  it  that  Thou,  being  a  Jew,  askest  drink  of  me,  which  am 
a  woman  of  Samaria  ?  for  the  Jews  have  no  dealings  5  with  the 

10  Samaritans.     Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  her,  If  thou  knewest 
the  gift  6  of  God,  and  who  it  is  that  saith  to  thee,  Give  Me  to 

1  The  length  of  time  Jesus  spent  at  Jerusalem  at  this  visit  cannot  be  precisely 
determined  ;  but  probably  it  was  not  far  from  eight  months. 

2  The  need-be  in  this  case  was  not  because  there  was  no  other  route  to  Galilee. 
The  Jews  commonly  made  the  journey  by  the  valley  of  the  Jordan,  to  avoid  going 
through  Samaria.    But  our  Lord  had  a  work  to  do  in  Samaria,  and  was  to  receive  a 
signal  acknowledgment  there  among  the  enemies  of  His  people  that  He  was  the 
promised  Saviour. 

3  Sychar  was  situated  between  the  abutments  of  two  mountains,  Gerizim  and 
Ebal.     Its  ancient  name  was  Shechem,  its  modern  Nabulus,  or  Nablus,  a  corrup. 
tion  of  Neapolis,  the  "  New  Town  "  founded  by  Vespasian  on  the  site  of  Shechem. 
Of  the  sacred  localities  in  Palestine,  as  pointed  out  by  tradition,  this  is  almost  the  only 
one  absolutely  undisputed.      Dr.  Kobinson  thinks  there  can  be  no  reason  to  doubt 
that  here  is  Jacob's  well,  and  here  the  parcel  of  ground  he  gave  to  Ms  son  Joseph, 
and  that  here  the  Saviour  taught  the  Samaritan  woman. 

4  As  St.  John  adopted  the  Eoman  method  of  reckoning  the  hours  of  the  day,  which 
is  the  same  as  ours,  this  must  have  been  either  the  sixth  hour  from  noon  (or  at 
evening),  or  the  sixth  from  midnight  (or  in  the  morning).     As  the  sun  must  have  set 
at  Sychar,  at  the  season  of  the  year  when  this  visit  was  paid,  not  far  from  five 
o'clock,  we  infer  that  it  must  have  been  in  the  morning,  after  a  night  journey  to 
avoid  the  heat  of  the  sun.     And  this  opinion  agrees  best  with  the  errand  of  the 
woman,  who  comes  to  get  her  morning  supply  of  water.    It  was  not,  clearly,  according 
to  the  Jewish  method  of  reckoning  the  hours,  at  noon,  under  the  fervid  heat  of  the 
sun.     The  interview  at  the  well  was  rather  a  morning  than  evening  scene.    We 
incline  to  the  view  that  it  was  a  morning  scene,  for  the  reason  intimated  above. 

5  The  oldest  and  most  complete  MS.  in  existence,  the  Sinaitio,  omits  "  for  the 
Jews  have  no  dealings  with  the  Samaritans,"     It  is  superfluous  certainly  as  a  part 
of  the  woman's  address  to  our  Lord ;  and  it  is  easy  to  see  how  it  may  have  been 
transferred  from  the  margin  (placed  there  as  a  note  of  explanation)  into  the  text. 

6  The  great  salvation,  under  the  figure  of  living  water.     He  presents  Himself  under 
this  figure,  as  having  life  in  Himself,  a  life  which  can  allay  the  craving  in  the  human 
heart  and  impart  full  satisfaction.     The  simple  woman  was  unable  fully  to  under- 
stand the  greatness  of  the  thought.      It  was  necessary  for  Him  first  to  reveal  her  to 
herself,  and  thus  prepare  her  for  that  gracious  revelation  He  was  about  to  make  of 
Himself  to  her.    But  He  did  not  seek  to  awaken  confidence  in  Himself  by  the  per- 


ST.    JOHN    IV.  295 

drink  ;  thou  wouldest  have  asked  of  Him,  and  He  would  have 

11  given  thee  living  water.     The  woman  saith  unto  Him,  Sir,  Thou 
hast  nothing  to  draw  with,  and  the  well  is  deep  :  from  whence 

12  then  hast  Thou  that  living  water  ?     Art  Thou  greater  than  our 
father  Jacob,  which  gave  us  the  well,  and  drank  thereof  him- 

13  self,  and  his  children,  and  his  cattle  ?     Jesus  answered  and  said 
unto  her,  Whosoever  drinketh  of  this  water  shall  thirst  again  : 

14  but  whosoever  drinketh  of  the  water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall 
never  thirst ;  but  the  water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall  be  in 

15  him  a  well  of  water  springing  up  into  everlasting  life.     The 
woman  saith  unto  Him,  Sir,  give  me  this  water,  that  I  thirst 

1 6  not,  neither  come  hither  to  draw.      Jesus   saith  unto  her,  Go, 

17  call  thy  husband,  and  come  hither.      The  woman  answered  and 
said,  I  have  no  husband.     Jesus  said  unto  her,  Thou  hast  well 

18  said,  I  have  no  husband  :  for  thou  hast  had  five  husbands ;  and 
he  whom  thou  now  hast  is  not  thy  husband  :  in  that  saidst  thou 

19  truly.     The  woman  saith  unto  Him,  Sir,  I  perceive  that  Thou 

20  art  a  prophet.    Oar  fathers  worshipped  in  this  mountain;  *  and  ye 
say  that  in  Jerusalem  is  the  place  where  men  ought  to  worship. 

21  Jesus  saith  unto  her,  Woman,  believe  Me,  the  hour  cometh,  when 
ye  shall  neither  in  this  mountain,  nor  yet  at  Jerusalem,  worship 

22  the  Father.     Ye  worship  ye  know  not  what :  we  know  what  we 

23  worship ;  for  salvation  is  of  the  Jews.     But  the  hour  cometh, 
and  now  is,  when  the  true  worshippers  shall  worship  the  Father 
in  spirit  and  in  truth :  for  the  Father  seeketh  such  to  worship 

24  Him.       God  is  a  Spirit :    and   they  that  worship  Him  must 

25  worship  Him  in  spirit  and  in  truth.     The  woman  saith  unto 
Him,  I  know  that  Messias 3  cometh,  which  is  called  Christ :  when 

26  He  is  come,  He  will  tell  us  all  things.     Jesus  saith  unto  her,  I 

27  that  speak  unto  thee  am  He.    And  upon  this  came  His  disciples, 
and  marvelled  that  He  talked  with  the  woman :  yet  no  man 

formanee  of  a  miracle,  the  raising  of  the  water  from  the  well  for  example,  without 
any  vessel  or  rope  to  draw  it  with.  The  conviction  He  wrought  in  her  mind,  and 
in  those  of  her  countrymen  subsequently,  was  entirely  independent  of  any  miraculous 
exhibition. 

1  The  woman  sought  to  divert  the  conversation  from  the  unpleasant  topic  of  her 
past  sins  to  the  controversies  between  the  Jews  and  the  Samaritans.     She  affected 
some  religion ;  she  could  talk  about  worship.      This  led  our  Saviour  to  condemn  all 
formality  and  bigotry,  and  to  unfold  the  spiritual  nature  of  all  true  worship. 

2  That  which  had  been  intimated  at  an  early  stage  in  the  conversation  Jesus  now 
distinctly  declares  :  "  I  that  speak  unto  thee  am  He.     I  am  Christ.     I  am  He  that 
came  from  heaven  to  save  the  lost."    There  stood  her  Saviour  before  her  eyes. 


296  THE    LIFE   AND   WETTINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

said,   What  seekest  Thou  ?  or,  Why  talkest  Thou  with  her  ? 

28  The  woman  then  left l  her  waterpot,  and  went  her  way  into  the 

29  city,  and  saith  to  the  men,  Come,  see  a  man,  which  told  me  all 

30  things  that   ever  I  did  :  is  not   this  the  Christ  ?     Then  they 

31  went  out  of  the  city,  and  came  unto  Him.     In  the  mean  while 

32  His  cKsciples  prayed  Him,  saying,  Master,  eat. 2     But  He  said 

33  unto  them,  I  have  meat  to  eat  that  ye  know  not  of.     Therefore 
said  the  disciples  one  to  another,  Hath  any  man  brought  Him 

34  aught  to  eat  ?     Jesus  saith  unto  them,  My  meat  is  to  do  the 

35  will  of  Him  that  sent  Me,  and  to  finish  His  work.     Say  not  ye, 
There  are  yet  four  3  months,  and  then  cometh  harvest  ?  behold, 
I  say  unto  you,  Lift  up  your  eyes,  and  look  on  the  fields ;  for 

36  they  are  white  already  to  harvest.    And  he  that  reapeth  receiveth 
wages,  and  gathereth  fruit  unto  life  eternal :  that  both  he  that 

37  sowefch  and  he  that  reapeth  may  rejoice  together.     And  herein 

38  is  that  saying  true,  One  soweth,  and  another  reapeth.      I  sent 
you  to  reap  that  whereon  ye  bestowed  no  labour  :  other  men 

39  laboured,  and  ye  are  entered  into  their  labours.      And  many  of 
the  Samaritans  4  of  that  city  believed  on  Him  for  the  saying  of 
the  woman,  which  testified,  He  told  me  all  that  ever  I  did. 

40  So   when  the    Samaritans    were  come    unto   Him,  they    be- 


1  In  the  intense  interest  that  had  been  awakened  in  her  mind  forgetting  the 
errand  that  had  brought  her  to  the  well.     That  such  a  woman,  whose  character  and 
conduct  had  been  far  from  reputable,  should  exhibit  so  much  interest,  and  come  with 
the  question  "  Is  not  this  the  Christ  ?  "  may  have  been  the  means  of  awakening  the 
interest  of  her  countrymen.      They  came  out  to  Him  on  her  testimony  that  she 
had  met  with  a  man  who  possessed  supernatural  knowledge,  and  could  tell  the  very 
secrets  of  the  heart. 

2  Ignorant  of  the  important  results  to  the  Samaritans  of  His  interview  with  the 
woman,  they  urge  their  Master  to  refresh  Himself  with  the  food  they  had  brought, 
expecting  no  doubt  soon  to  resume  their  journey  towards  Galilee. 

3  From  the  form  of  the  expression,  "  Say  not  ye,"  etc.,  it  is  natural  to  infer  that 
the  harvest  was  yet  four  months  distant.      And  as  the  harvest  had  its  legal  com- 
mencement when  a  sheaf  of  the  firstfruits  was  waved  before  the  Lord,  about  the 
1st  of  April,  if  we  count  back  from  the  beginning  of  this  month  four  months  we 
obtain  the  1st  of  December,  or  last  of  November,  at  or  soon  after  the  sowing  time, 
as  the  season  when  this  visit  was  made  by  Jesus  to  Samaria.      There  is  no  such 
interval  between  the  sowing  and  the  spiritual  harvest. 

4  The  Samaritans  were  a  mixed  race,  partly  of  Gentile  and  partly  of  Jewish  ex- 
traction ;  and  they  stood  therefore  as  a  sort  of  connecting  link  between  Jews  and 
Gentiles.     The  apostles  were  sent  to  the  Samaritans  next  to  the  Jews,  before  they 
were  directed  to  go  to  the  Gentiles.     This  was  the  very  course  Christianity  took  at  its 
spread.     At  the  dispersion  which  took  place  at  the  time  of  the  martyrdom  of  Stephen, 
Philip  went  down,  and  it  was  probably  in  this  very  city,  Sychar,  where  his  preaching 
was  attended  with  such  remarkable  effects.    (See  Alexander,  Acts  viii.  5.) 


ST.    JOHN    IV.  297 

sought  Him  that  He  would  tarry  with  them :  and  He  abode 
41  there  two  days.  And  many  more  believed  because  of  His 
42 own  word;  and  said  unto  the  woman,  Now  we  believe,  not 

because  of  thy  saying :  for  we  have  heard  Him  ourselves,  and 

know1   that   this  is   indeed   the   Christ,  the   Saviour   of  the 

world. 

9.  A  nobleman,  probably  a  courtier  of  Herod  Antipas,  is  convinced,  and 

believes  in  Jesus. 

[Ver.  43-54. 

43  Now  after  two  days  He  departed  thence,  and  went  into  Gali- 

44  lee.2    For  Jesus  himself  testified,  that  a  prophet  hath  no  honour 

45  in  his  own  country.     Then  when  He  was  come  into  Galilee,  the 
Galileans  received  Him,  having  seen  all  the  things  that  He  did 
at  Jerusalem  at  the  feast :  for  they  also  went  unto  the  feast. 

46  So  Jesus  came  again  into  Cana 3  of  Galilee,  where  He  made  the 
water  wine.      And  there  was  a  certain  nobleman,4  whose  son 

47  was  sick   at    Capernaum.      When   he   heard   that   Jesus  was 

1  It  was  a  most  wonderful  work ;  there  is  nothing  more  so  in  the  history  of  our 
Lord's  ministry.    It  was  what  they  heard  from  His  own  lips  (there  was  no  miracle, 
as  we  have  said)  which  prompted  them  to  say  with  so  much  emphasis  that  they 
knew  He  was  indeed  the  Christ,  the  Saviour  of  the  world.      They  felt  the  authority 
that  accompanied  His  teachings,  a  certain  majesty  and  power,  which  belonged  to 
unmixed  truth. 

2  After  spending  two  days  at  Sychar,  He  went  into  Galilee,  directing  His  steps  first 
to  Nazareth,  where  He  was  scornfully  and  with  violence  rejected,  calling  forth  the 
testimony  from  Him  that  "  a  prophet  hath  no  honour  in  his  own  country."      That 
by  country  here  is  meant  Nazareth,  and  not  Galilee,  we  have  proof  in  the  fact  that 
Nazareth  is  so  denominated  frequently  by  the  evangelists.    (Matt.  xiii.  54 ;  Mark 
vi.  1 ;  Luke  iv.  23.)      The  Galileans  generally  were  disposed  to  receive  Him,  as  we 
are  distinctly  told  in  verse  45. 

3  This  place  was  to  be  honoured  as  the  scene  of  the  second  great  miracle  Jesus 
performed  in  Galilee  at  the  opening  of  His  ministry.     Or  rather  this  was  the  place 
where  Jesus  Himself  was  when  He  performed  the  miracle,  while  the  scene  itself  of 
the  miracle  was  at  a  distance  of  some  twenty  miles,  at  Capernaum  on  the  Lake. 
This  circumstance  of  the  distance  between  the  two  places  is  an  important  feature  in 
the  miracle,  as  showing  that  distance  could  set  no  limit  to  the  will  and  power  of 
Christ. 

4  It  has  been  conjectured  that  this  nobleman  was  Chuza  or  Chuzas  (Xou^as)  men- 
tioned in  Luke  viii.  3  as  "  Herod's  steward."      Joanna,  the  wife  or  widow  of  Chuza, 
was  one  of  the  women  who  ministered  to  the  wants  of  Jesus.      If  the  conjecture  be 
well  founded,  then  his  office  made  him  a  member  of  the  court  of  Herod  Antipas. 
The  nobleman,  whoever  he  may  have  been,  must  have  filled  an  influential  position, 
The  healing  of  his  son  was  probably  the  beginning  of  the  wonderful  works  performed 
in  the  sight  of  the  people  of  this  city,  and  may  have  been  the  occasion  which  led 
Christ  to  take  up  His  abode  there. 


298  THE    LIFE    AND   WRITINGS    OP    ST.  JOHN. 

come  out   of  Judaea   into   Galilee,  he  went    unto   Him,   and 
besought  Him  that  He  would  come  down,  and  heal  his  son  : 

48  for  he  was  at  the  point  of  death.1     Then  said  Jesus  unto  him, 

49  Except  ye  see  signs  and  wonders,  ye  will  not  believe.      The 
nobleman  saith  unto  Him,  Sir, 2  come  down  ere  my  child  die. 

50  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  Go  thy  way  :  thy  son  liveth.      And  the 
man  believed  the  word  that  Jesus  had  spoken  unto  him,  and 

51  he   went  his  way.      And   as    he  was   now   going   down,  his 

52  servants  met  him,  and  told  him,  saying,  Thy  son  liveth.     Then 
inquired  he  of  them  the  hour  when  he  began  to  amend.      And 
they  said  unto  him,  Yesterday  at  the  seventh  3  hour  the  fever 

53  left  him.     So  the  father  knew  that  it  was  at  the  same  hour, 
in  the  which  Jesus  said  unto  him,  Thy  son  liveth :  and  him- 

54  self  believed,  and  his  whole  house.     This  is  again  the  second  4 
miracle  that  Jesus  did,  when  He  was  come  out  of  Judaea  into 
Galilee. 


1  He  would  have  Him  make  no  delay,  but  hasten  back  with  him  to  Capernaum, 
and    for  greater  expedition,  we  may  presume,  had    come  in   his    chariot.       He 
never  once  dreamed  that  Christ   had   power  to  perform  the    miracle,  remaining 
where  He  was.    His  faith  was  not  equal  to  that  of  the  centurion  who  did  not  feel 
worthy,  nor  think  it  necessary,  that  Christ  should  come  to  his  house  (Matt.  viii. 
5-13). 

2  It  is  an  anguished  parent's  cry  ;  and  notwithstanding  the  limitations  he  sets  to 
Christ's  power,  and  the  corresponding  weakness  of  his  faith,  it  prevails  with  the 
merciful  Saviour. 

3  As  John  computes  time  by  the  Eoman  division  of  the  day  into  twelve  equal  parts, 
beginning  from  midnight  and  again  from  midday,  the  healing  took  place  at  seven 
o'clock  in  the  evening ;  unless  we  suppose  that  the  nobleman  came  in  the  night 
from  Capernaum,  and  arrived  at  or  before  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning.     It  is 
conclusive  that  it  must  have  been  at  evening,  as  it  was  the  following  day  when 
he  was  met  returning  by  his  servants  with  the  message,  "  Thy  son  liveth."     If 
the  miracle  had  been  performed  at  an  early  hour  in  the  morning,  in  his  deep 
anxiety  about  his  son,  it  is  not  to  be  presumed  the  father  would  have  remained 
at  Cana  an  entire  day  before  returning.      The  same  argument  militates  against 
the  seventh  hour  being  reckoned   according   to  the  Jewish  horology;    for  if  his 
son  had  been  cured  at  one  o'clock  p.m.,  the  nobleman  might  have  returned  that 
evening. 

4  Cana  was  an  honoured  place.     In  the  first  miracle  performed  at  Cana  He  mani- 
fested forth  His  glory,  by  changing  water  into  wine.    In  the  second,  by  a  simple 
act  of  volition,  and  at  a  distance  of  miles,  He  restored  a  dying  person  to  health,  and 
gave  evidence  of  possessing  perfect  knowledge  of  his  recovery. 


ST.    JOHN   V.  299 

10.  Christ  performs  a  miracle  on  that  great  public  occasion,  the  Pass- 
over, which,  in  contrast  ivith  false  miracles,  pointed  Him  out  as  the  Son  of 
God  and  Saviour  of  the  world. 

V.]  [Yer.  1-16. 

After1  this  there  was  a  feast2  of  the  Jews ;  and  Jesus  went  up 

2  to  Jerusalem.     Now  there  is  at  Jerusalem  by  the  sheep  market5 
a  pool,  which  is  called  in  the  Hebrew  tongue  Bethesda,  having 

3  five  porches.4     In  these  lay  a  great  multitude  of  impotent  folk, 

1  By  "  after  this,"  ravra,  we  are  not  to  understand  St.  John  as  referring  to  what 
immediately  followed  in  his  narrative  the  healing  of  the  nobleman's   son,  but  to 
what  took  place  after  a  considerable  interval.    Jesus  had  healed  the  demoniac  in  the 
synagogue  at  Capernaum,  Peter's  wife's  mother,  and  many  others  in  that  city.    He 
had  made  a  circuit,  with  the  disciples  who  had  then  been  called,  through  Galilee, 
preaching  the  kingdom.     He  had  sent  a  message  to  John  the  Baptist  in  prison. 
He  had  healed  a  leper  and  a  paralytic,  had  called  Matthew  the  publican,  and 
attended  a  feast  in  his  house,  and  raised  to  life  the  daughter  of  the  ruler  Jairus. 

2  The  question,  what  feast  is  here  meant  is  specially  important,  as  bearing  on  the 
length  of  our  Lord's  ministry.     In  the  oldest  MS.,  the  Sinaitic,  we  read  "the 
feast,"  as  we  do  also  in  several  other  less  important  MSS.    That  which  was  known 
by  way  of  eminence  as  "  the  feast  of  the  Jews  "  was  the  passover.     Dr.  Kobinson 
states  convincing  reasons  that  the  passover  is  meant  here,  in  a  note  in  loco  to 
his  Harmony  of  the  Gospels.     John  notices  three  other  passovers ;  to  wit,  the  first, 
chap.  ii.  13;    the    third,  vi.  4;   the  fourth,  xii.  1.     It  follows  that  our  Lord's 
public  ministry  extended  over  more  than  three  years.     This  is  the  view  of  most 
ancient  and  the  best  modern  interpreters  :   Irenaeus,  Eusebius,  Luther,  Scaliger, 
Grotius,  Lightfoot,  Le  Clerc,  Hengstenberg,  Tholuck,  etc. 

3  The  word  "market"  is  not  in  the  original.     The  marginal  reading  is  "gate," 
which  is  probably  correct,  as  we  know  there  was  a  gate  at  Jerusalem  having  this 
name  (Neh.  iii.  1,  xii.  39).     Near  this  gate  was  a  pool  called  in  the  Hebrew  tongue 
Bethesda  (in  the  Sinaitic  MS.  Bethzatha;  in  the  Vatican,  Bethsaida). 

4  Porches.     Places  roofed  over,  where  the  sick  might  be  laid. 

It  has  been  common  for  monks  and  travellers  for  many  centuries  to  find  the 
ancient  Bethesda,  mentioned  by  John,  in  the  deep  excavation  on  the  north  side  of 
the  area  of  the  great  mosque,  near  the  gate  now  called  St.  Stephen's.  But  the 
learned  traveller,  Dr.  Robinson,  says :  "  There  is  not  the  slightest  evidence  that 
can  identify  it  with  the  Bethesda  of  the  New  Testament."  He  thinks  the  name 
has  been  assigned  to  the  excavation  in  question  in  comparatively  modern  times, 
from  its  proximity  to  St.  Stephen's  gate,  which  was  erroneously  held  to  be  the 
ancient  sheep-gate.  (Bib.  Ees.,  i.,  pp.  231,  232  ;  iii.,  p.  189 ;  i.,  pp.  337-341.) 
He  thinks  he  finds  (of  which  there  can  scarcely  be  a  question)  the  true  Bethesda  in 
the  upper  fountain  of  Siloam,  the  same  with  the  king's  pool  of  Nehemiah  and  the 
Solomon's  pool  of  Josephus.  He  had  heard  that  the  irregular  flow  of  this  fountain 
was  a  belief  among  the  people  of  Jerusalem,  but  his  friends  had  never  seen  it,  and 
they  regarded  the  story  as  one  of  the  popular  legends  of  the  country.  But  wishing 
to  verify  what  was  believed  to  be  the  fact,  that  the  upper  and  lower  fountains  were 
connected  by  a  passage  or  canal  under  that  part  of  Zion  called  Ophel,  he  was  per- 
mitted himself  to  be  a  witness  of  the  phenomenon  in  question.  "  As  we  were  prepar- 
ing," he  writes,  "to  measure  the  basin  of  the  upper  fountain,  and  explore  the  passages 
leading  from  it,  my  companion  was  standing  on  the  lower  step,  near  the  water,  with 
one  foot  on  the  step,  and  the  other  on  a  loose  stone  lying  in  the  basin.  All  at  once 


300  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

of  blind,  halt,  withered,  waiting1  for  the  moving  of  the  water. 

4  For  an  angel  went  down  at  a  certain  season  into  the  pool,  and 
troubled  the  water  :  whosoever  then  first  after  the  troubling  of 
the  water  stepped  in  was  made  whole  of  whatsoever  disease  he 

5  had.     And  a  certain  man  was   there,  which  had  an  infirmity 

6  thirty  and  eight  years.     When  Jesus2  saw  him  lie,  and  knew 

he  perceived  the  water  coming  into  his  shoe;  and  supposing  the  stone  had  rolled, 
he  withdrew  his  foot  to  the  step  ;  which,  however,  in  a  very  few  minutes  was  also 
now  covered  with  water.  This  instantly  excited  our  curiosity ;  and  we  now  per- 
ceived the  water  rapidly  bubbling  up  from  under  the  lower  step.  In  less  than  five 
minutes  it  had  risen  in  the  basin  nearly  or  quite  a  foot,  and  we  could  hear  it  gurg- 
ling off  through  the  interior  passage.  In  ten  minutes  more  it  had  ceased  to  flow, 
and  the  water  in  the  basin  was  reduced  to  its  former  level."  He  describes  the  pool 
as  a  deep  cavity  wholly  excavated  in  the  solid  rock,  the  basin  itself  being  perhaps 
fifteen  feet  long  by  five  or  six  wide,  the  height  six  or  eight  feet.  As  to  the  cause  of 
the  irregular  flow  of  this  fountain  as  witnessed  by  Dr.  Kobinson,  it  no  doubt  belongs 
to  the  class  of  remitting  fountains,  of  which  there  are  not  a  few  in  that  region  of  the 
world,  and  some  which  are  wholly  intermitting.  Josephus  gives  an  account  of  a 
stream,  which  he  calls  the  Sabbatic  Eiver,  which  flowed  only  on  the  seventh  day 
(Josephus,  Wars,  vii.  5,  1).  Dr.  W.  M.  Thomson  discovered  a  stream  quiescent  two 
days,  and  active  on  part  of  the  third  (Land  and  Book,  i.,  pp.  407,  408).  It  is  well 
known  that  these  intermitting  fountains  are  merely  the  drainage  of  subterraneous 
reservoirs,  on  the  principle  of  the  syphon ;  the  condition  necessary  to  make  the 
stream  intermit  is  that  the  capacity  of  the  syphon  be  greater  than  the  supply. 

1  The  evidence  that  the  last  clause  of  verse  3  to  the  end  of  verse  4,  beginning  with 
the  word  "waiting,"  and  in  the  Greek  from  ^K^exo^V(33V  *°  yoo-^uart,  lacks  genuine- 
ness is  as  follows.  The  passage  is  wholly  wanting  in  the  two  oldest  Codices,  the 
Sinaitic  and  Vatican ;  and  in  the  oldest  MSS.  next  in  authority,  the  Codex  Eegius 
in  the  imperial  library  at  Paris,  and  that  of  Beza  in  the  university  of  Cambridge, 
belonging  respectively  to  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries,  the  fourth  verse  is  omitted. 
Tischendorf,  in  his  edition  of  the  Greek  Testament,  omits  the  entire  passage. 
Tregelles  does  the  same  in  his  edition ;  and  so  also  in  the  Curetonian  Syriac,  the 
Memphitic  MSS.  and  the  Thebaic  version.  Neither  Liicke,  nor  Tholuck,  nor  Trench 
regards  the  disputed  clause  as  genuine.  "It  is  in  the  highest  degree  probable," 
says  Olshausen,  "  that  it  was  introduced  into  the  text  from  MSS.  in  the  margin  of 
which  the  owners  had  made  this  note  from  personal  observation.  Doubtless  there- 
fore it  was  a  fact  that  the  water  from  time  to  time  fitfully  bubbled,  and  in  such 
seasons  the  greatest  efficacy  was  ascribed  to  it."  Here  then,  at  what  is  now  known 
as  the  fountain  of  the  Virgin,  was  doubtless  the  scene  of  the  miracle  of  the  healing 
of  the  impotent  man.  It  is  necessary,  in  order  to  account  for  the  great  number  of 
diseased  persons  waiting  at  Bethesda,  to  suppose  that  they  believed  some  healing 
virtue  was  imparted  to  the  water  by  its  periodical  rising  and  consequent  agitation  ; 
and  it  is  probable  there  was  a  popular  belief  among  the  more  credulous  that  an 
angel  came  down  to  agitate  the  water,  and  impart  to  it  its  healing  efficacy.  If  we 
omit  the  disputed  passage  the  narrative  flows  on  without  break  or  hiatus,  evidently 
intact  as  it  came  from  the  hand  of  the  inspired  writer,  and  the  miracle  of  our  Lord 
is  brought  into  striking  contrast  with  the  false  miracle  which  the  poor  sufferers 
were  there  awaiting.  (See  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  Jan.  1870,  Art.  V.,  by  the  author,  for 
a  more  full  examination  of  this  subject.) 
2  In  Jesus  resided  that  power  to  heal,  which  the  wretched  crowd  attributed  to  the 


ST.    JOHN    V.  301 

that  lie  had  been  now  a  long  time  in  that  case,  He  saith  unto 

7  him,  Wilt  thou  be  made  whole  ?     The  impotent1  man  answered 
Him,  Sir,  I  have  no  man,  when  the  water  is  troubled,2  to  put 
me  into  the  pool :  but  while  I  am  coming,  another  steppeth 

8  down  before  me.     Jesus  saith  unto  him,  Rise,  take  up  thy  bed, 

9  and  walk.     And  immediately3  the  man  was  made  whole,  and 
took  up  his  bed,  and  walked :  and  on  the  same  day  was  the 

10  sabbath.     The  Jews  therefore  said  unto  him  that  was  cured, 
It  is  the  sabbath  day  :  it  is  not  lawful  for  thee  to  carry  thy  bed. 

11  He  answered  them,  He  that  made  me  whole,  the  same  said 

12  unto  me,  Take  up  thy  bed,  and  walk.     Then  asked  they  him, 
What  man  is  that  which  said  unto  thee,  Take  up  thy  bed,  and 

13  walk  ?     And  he  that  was  healed  wist  not  who  it  was :  for  Jesus 
had  conveyed  Himself  away,  a  multitude  being  in  that  place. 

14  Afterward  Jesus  findeth  him  in  the  temple,  and  said  unto  him, 
Behold,  thou  art  made  whole :  sin  no  more,  lest  a  worse  thing 

15  come  unto  thee.     The  man  departed,  and  told  the  Jews  that  it 

1 6  was  Jesus,  which  had  made  him  whole.     And  therefore  did  the 
Jews  persecute  Jesus,  and  sought  to  slay  Him,  because  He  had 
done  these  things  on  the  sabbath  day. 

11.  Dignity  of  Christ's  character,  and  Divinity  of  His  person,  as  asserted 

by  Himself. 

[Yer.  17-29. 

17  But   Jesus  answered  them,    My  Father4  worketh  hitherto, 

18  and  I  work.     Therefore  the  Jews  sought  the  more  to  kill  Him, 

water.  This  belief,  which  scholiasts  had  indicated  on  the  margin  of  certain  copies 
and  which  the  transcribers  have  made  a  part  of  the  text,  hinders  us  from  perceiving 
the  beauty  and  force  of  the  contrast  between  Him  and  the  so  accredited  miraculous 
fountain.  The  removal  of  the  interpolation  at  once  reveals  the  contrast  in  bold  and 
striking  relief. 

1  No  reason  is  given  for  the  selection  of  this  man  from  the  crowd  of  sufferers,  or 
for  not  extending  the  power  of  healing  to  others.    It  may  have  been  because  he  was 
the  most  infirm  and  pitiable  of  all. 

2  The  language  implies  that  the  swelling  or  moving  of  the  water  was  only  at 
irregular  intervals,  which  answers  precisely  to  what  takes  place  at  the  waters  of 
Siloam  to  this  day. 

3  His  impotency  of  nearly  forty  years'  standing  was  instantly  removed.    This 
was  a  genuine  and  most  wonderful  miracle,  wrought  at  a  pool,  in  the  midst  of  a 
large  company  of  the  diseased,  where  an  angel,  if  we  are  to  accept  the  incorporated 
scholium  as  expressing  a  popular  belief,  was  expected  to  descend  and  impart  mira- 
culous virtue  to  the  water.     But  the  miracle  was  nothing  in  the  estimation  of 
"  the  Jews,"  who  sought  to  varnish  over  their  enmity  to  Jesus  with  a  professed  zeal 
for  the  sabbath. 

4  That  Christ  claimed  a  peculiar  Sonship  by  the  expression,  "  My  Father,"  such 


302  THE   LIFE  AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

because  He  not  only  had  broken  the  sabbath,  but  said  also  that 

19  God  was  His  Father,  making  Himself  equal  with  God.     Then 
answered  Jesus  and  said  unto  them,  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto 
you,  The  Son  can  do1  nothing  of  Himself,  but  what  He  seeth 
the  Father  do :  for  what  things  soever  He  doeth,  these   also 

20  doeth  the  Son  likewise.     For  the  Father  loveth  the  Son,  and 
showeth  Him  all  things  that  Himself  doeth :  and  He  will  show 

21  Him  greater2  works  than  these,  that  ye  may  marvel.     For  as 
the  Father  raiseth  up  the  dead,  and  quickeneth  them ;  even  so 

22  the  Son  quickeneth  whom  He  will.     For  the  Father  judgeth  no 

23  man,  but  hath  committed  all  judgment  unto  the  Son  :  that  all 
men  should  honour3  the  Son,  even  as  they  honour  the  Father. 
He  that  honoureth  not  the  Son  honoureth  not  the  Father  which 

24  hath  sent  Him.    Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  He  that  heareth 
My  word,  and  belie veth  on  Him  that  sent  Me,  hath  everlasting 

as  no  merely  created  being  could  share,  appears  from  the  sequel.  The  Jews  under- 
stood Him,  by  this  claim,  to  make  Himself  equal  with  God.  The  charge  of  violat- 
ing the  sabbath  was  instantly  lost  sight  of  in  the  more  serious  one  of  having 
spoken  blasphemy.  It  was  the  charge  which  was  urged  against  Him,  and  of  which 
the  high-priest  declared  Him  guilty,  before  the  Sanhedrin,  when  He  was  pronounced 
worthy  of  death  (Matt.  xxvi.  65). 

1  He  reiterates  and  explains  His  declaration.    He  asserts  that  the  Father  does 
nothing  independently  of  the  Son,  nor  the  Son  independently  of  the  Father,  but 
that  they  work  together  in  ineffable  union  and  love.     He  claims  not  only  equal 
power  but  equal  exercise  of  power  with  the  Father.    The  Jews  charged  that  He  had 
used  language  by  which,  according  to  a  fair  interpretation,  He  made  Himself  equal 
with  God.    If  they  had  misunderstood  Him  this  was  the  time  for  Him  to  disabuse 
their  minds  ;  but  He  makes  no  attempt  of  the  kind. 

2  These  greater  works  were  not  alone  those  that  were  to  mark  His  ministry  on 
earth.     The  raising  of  the  dead,  and  the  judgment  of  the  world  at  the  last  day, 
were  to  be  committed  to  Him. 

3  We  have  no  stronger  argument  for  the  Divine  nature  of  the  Saviour  of  the 
world  in  all  those  passages  in  which  He  is  expressly  called  God.     The  worship  of 
Christ,  if  He  were  not  Divine,  would  be  idolatry.    But  instead  of  rebuking  He 
encourages  and  sanctions  this  worship.     The  eastern  Magi  worshipped  Him  in  His 
cradle.     Those  on  whom  He  had  exerted  miraculous  power  fell  at  His  feet  and  wor- 
shipped Him.     The  mother  of  John,  the  woman  of  Canaan,  the  father  of  the  luna- 
tic who  met  Him  at  the  foot  of  the  mount  of  transfiguration,  worshipped  Him, 
and  His  disciples  as  He  was  carried  up  from  them  into  heaven ;  and  after  His 
ascension  the  dying  Stephen  called  "upon  God,"  saying,  "Lord  Jesus,  receive  my 
spirit."    Paul  cannot  write  an  epistle  without  repeated  acts  of  worship  to  Christ^  as 
"  God  blessed  for  ever."  In  the  writings  of  the  Christian  fathers  we  find  this  worship 
not  only  inculcated,  but  defended  when  it  was  charged  upon  them.     The  hymns  of 
the  early  Church  are  full  of  Christ.     The  younger  Pliny,  in  his  report  to  Trajan 
concerning  the  Christians,  gave  special  emphasis  to  the  fact   that  they  "  sang 
hymns  to  Christ  as  to  God,"  quasi  Deo  (Epistolce,  x.  97).    The  universal  faith  of 
the  Church  has  not  been  accorded  to  a  falsehood. 


ST.    JOHN    V.  303 

lif e,  and  shall  not  come  into  condemnation ;  but  is  passed  from 

25  death  unto  life.1     Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  The  hour  is 
coming,  and  now  is,  when  the  dead2  shall  hear  the  voice  of  the 

26  Son  of  God  :  and  they  that  hear  shall  live.     For  as  the  Father 
hath  life  in  Himself ;  so  hath  He  given  to  the  Son  to  have  life 

27 in  Himself;  and  hath  given  Him  authority  to  execute  judg- 

28  ment  also,  because  He  is  the  Son  of  man.     Marvel  not  at  this  : 
for  the  hour  is  coming,  in  the  which  all  that  are  in  the  graves 

29  shall  hear3  His  voice,   and   shall  come  forth ;  they  that  have 
done  good,  unto  the  resurrection  of  life ;  and  they  that  have 
done  evil,  unto  the  resurrection  of  damnation. 

12.  God's   testimony   to   Jesus   as   His    Son   and   our   Saviour,    in   the 
miracles  He  wrought  and  the  prophecies  fulfilled  in  Him. 

[Yer.  30-47. 

30  I  can  of  Mine  own  self  do  nothing  :  as  I  hear,  I  judge:  and 
My  judgment  is  just ;  because  I  seek  not  Mine  own  will,  but 

31  the  will  of  the  Father  which  hath  sent  Me.      If  I  bear  wit- 

32  ness4  of  Myself,  My  witness  is  not  true.     There  is  another5 
that   beareth  witness  of  Me;    and  I  know  that  the  witness 

33  which  He  witnesseth  of  Me  is  true.     Ye  sent  unto  John,  and 

34  he  bare  witness  unto  the  truth.     But  I  receive  not  testimony6 

1  That  is,  He  claims  to  possess  the  power  of  bestowing  spiritual  life  on  every  one 
that  believes.    He  raises  dead  souls,  a  greater  work  than  to  raise  dead  bodies.    The 
believer  in  Him  passes  from  death  unto  life,  so  that  if  we  have  faith  we  may  know 
that  we  have  been  born  again. 

2  The  power  of  Christ  in  the  resurrection  of  men  is  still  the  subject ;  primarily 
the  resurrection  of  their  bodies,  but  by  implication  or  inference  then:  spiritual 
resurrection.     It  is  in  His  character  as  Messiah  and  Mediator  that  the  Son  of  God, 
who  is  also  the  Son  of  man,  here  speaks.    It  is  the  Divine  and  human  so  mysteri- 
ously blended  in  His  person,  which  imparts  such  force  and  beauty  to  His  discourse 
on  this  occasion,  and  makes  it  so  suited  to  the  design  of  the  inspired  evangelist  so 
to  present  Jesus  to  His  readers  that  they  may  believe  in  Him,  and  believing  may 
have  life. 

3  This  event  would  be  one  of  such  amazing  grandeur  that  there  would  be  no  place 
for  wonder  at  the  previous  and  lesser  displays  of  His  power.     Not  one  individual, 
as  at  the  gate  of  Nain  or  as  in  the  case  of  Lazarus,  but  the  whole  human  race,  will 
be  recalled  to  life. 

4  As  His  opposers  were  doubtless  disposed  to  apply  to  Him  the  principle  of  the 
Jewish  civil  law  in  regard  to  testimony,  He  accommodates  Himself  to  the  notion, 
and  shows  that  He  is  prepared  to  satisfy  their  demand. 

5  This  other  witness  is  not  John  the  Baptist,  as  some  have  seemed  to  suppose, 
but  the  Father  Himself ;  for  in  supporting  His  extraordinary  claims  He  did  not  rely 
upon  mere  human  testimony.     This  leads  Him  to  allude  to  the  testimony  of  John. 

6  Literally  the  testimony,  rty  fj-aprvpiav,  i.e.,  the  only  or  highest  testimony,  in 
support  of  His  claims. 


304  THE    LIFE    AND    WEITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

35  from  man :  but  these  things  I  say,  that  ye  might  be  saved.     He 
was  a  burning  and  a  shining  light ;    and  ye  were  willing  for  a 

36  season  to  rejoice  in  his  light.     But  I  have  greater1  witness  than 
that  of  John  :  for  the  works2  which  the  Father  hath  given  Me 
to  finish,  the  same  works  that  I  do,  bear  witness  of  Me,  that 

37  the  Father  hath  sent  Me.     And  the  Father  Himself,  which  hath 
sent  Me,  hath  borne  witness  of  Me.     Ye  have  neither  heard  His 

38  voice  at  any  time,  nor  seen  His  shape.     And  ye  have  not  His 
word  abiding  in  you  :  for  whom  He  hath  sent,  Him  ye  believe 

39  not.     Search   the  Scriptures  ;3  for  in  them  ye  think  ye  have 

40  eternal  life  :  and  they  are  they  which  testify  of  Me.     And  ye 

41  will  not  come4  to  Me,  that  ye  might  have  life.     I  receive  not 

42  honour  from  men.     But  I  know  you,  that  ye  have  not  the  love 

43  of  God  in  you.     I  am  come  in  My  Father's  name,  and  ye  re- 
ceive Me  not:  if  another5  shall  come  in  his  own  name,  him  ye 

1  This  "  greater  witness  "  is  the  same  as  the  "  another,"  verse  32. 

2  First  the  Father  bears  witness  to  Jesus  by  "  the  works  "  which  He  gave  Him  to 
do.     Storr,  Flatt,  Kuinoel,  and  Olshausen  understand  the  "works"  as  referring  to 
the  miracles  of  Christ  alone.     Lticke,  Tholuck,  Stier,  J.  J.  Owen,  make  the  expres- 
sion include  all  His  acts  during  His  earthly  ministry,  but  as  also  having  primary 
reference  to  the  miracles  He  wrought.     These  miracles  were  proofs  of  the  Divine 
mission  of  Jesus  ;  they  were  virtually  the  testimony  of  the  Father  Himself  that  He 
had  sent  the  Son.     "  It  hardly  need  be  said,"  says  Dr.  J.  J.  Owen,  "  that  the  term 
works  is  here  and  elsewhere  inclusive  also  of  His  doctrines  and  instructions,  which, 
no  less  than  His  miracles,  proved  His  Divine  mission  to  man."     The  character  and 
doctrine  of  Christ  went  along  with  the  miracles  He  wrought,  proving  that  they  could 
not  have  been  the  works  of  a  mere  pretender.     Not  only  did  the  miracles  of  Christ 
prove  His  doctrine  Divine,  but  His  doctrine  was  the  evidence  that  His  works  were 
wrought  by  the  power  of  God,  and  that  He  came  forth  from  God. 

3  Again,  the  Father  bore  witness  to  Jesus  by  the  mouths  of  Old  Testament  pro- 
phets, and  all  the  previous  forms  of  Divine  revelation.     "  Search  the  Scriptures  ;  " 
or  we  may  take  tpeware  as  indicative,  rather  than  imperative,  as  is  done  by  the 
great  majority  of  modern  commentators :  "  Ye  do  search  the  Scriptures."     They 
are  told  that  in  the  very  Scriptures  which  they  searched,  thinking  to  find  eternal 
life,  they  would  find  a  revelation  of  Him ;  they  would  find  types  and  promises 
descriptive  of  His  person  ;  they  would  find  predictions  containing  distinct  mention 
of  the  particular  seed,  line,  and  even  family  of  which  He  was  born, — the  place,  the 
time,  and  the  circumstances  of  His  birth,  His  forerunner  described,  and  the  miracles 
He  performed.     They  would  find  it  foretold  in  one  of  the  best  known  of  their 
Messianic  prophecies  that  He  was  to  be  despised  and  rejected  of  men,  which  was 
then  so  signally  fulfilled  by  them.     The  very  spirit  of  prophecy  is  the  testimony  of 
Jesus  (Eev.  xix.  10). 

4  The  residue  of  the  chapter  is  taken  up  with  faithful  rebuke,  because  notwith- 
standing all  this  evidence  they  refused  to  believe. 

5  Tholuck  mentions  that  in  the  course  of  history  sixty-four  false  Messiahs  had 
appeared,  and  that  one  named  Bar  Cochba  had  gathered  24,000  adherents.     And  he 
remarks  that  "it  shows  a  profound  insight  into  the  human  heart  when  the  Saviour 


fflill 


ST.   JOHN   VI.  305 

• 

44  will  receive.     How  can  ye  believe,  which,  receive  honour  one 
of  another,   and  seek  not  the  honour  that  cometh  from  God 

45  only  ?     Do  not  think  that   I  will  accuse  you  to  the  Father  : 
there   is   one    that   accuseth    you,    even   Moses,   in   whom   ye 

46 trust.     For  had  ye  believed  Moses,  ye  would  have  believed  Me: 
47  for  he  wrote  of  Me.     But  if  ye  believe  not  his  writings,  how 
shall  ye  believe  My  words  ? 

13.  By  His  miracle  in  creating  supplies  for  thousands  of  people  so  deep 
was  the  conviction  wrought  in  their  minds  that  Jesus  was  the  Messiah 
that  they  were  ready  to  maJce  Him  their  king. 
VI.]  [Ver.  1-15. 

1  After1  these  things  Jesus  went  over2  the  sea  of  Galilee,  which 

2  is  the  sea  of  Tiberias.3     And  a  great  multitude  followed  Him, 
because  they  saw  His  miracles4  which  He  did  on  them  that  were 

3  diseased.     And  Jesus  went  up  into  a  mountain,5  and  there  He 

4  sat  with  His  disciples.     And  the  passover,6  a  feast  of  the  Jews, 

deduces  the  adhesion  to  false  Messiahs  from  the  fact  that  affinity  begets  sym- 
pathy, when  He  considers  the  striving  after  human  glory  as  the  chief  cause  of 
unbelief." 

1  "  After  these  things,"  clearly  means  a  considerable  interval,  for  nearly  a  year 
had  expired  since  the  healing  of  the  impotent  man  and  the  discourse  to  which  it 
gave  rise,  in  the  preceding  chapter.    He  was  now  at  (the  Sea  of  Galilee,  and  had 
spent  the  greater  part  of  this  interval  in  Galilee.     He  had  made  His  second  and 
third  circuits  through  that  portion  of  Palestine ;  had  made  choice  of  the  twelve 
apostles  ;  had  delivered  His  sermon  on  the  mount ;  had  begun  to  speak  by  parables ; 
and  had  performed  many  miracles,  all  of  which  are  passed  in  silence  by  the  evan- 
gelist John. 

2  To  the  eastern  or  north-eastern  coast. 

3  He  adds  the  explanatory  name  Tiberias  ;   probably  because  it  was  better  or  per- 
haps wholly  known  among  people  of  foreign  countries,  at  the  time  he  wrote,  late  in 
the  first  century,  by  this  name.     In  the  Jewish  war  the  city  of  Tiberias  adhered  to 
the  Eomans,  was  spared  by  their  armies,  and  rewarded,  after  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem,  by  being  made  the  capital  of  the  province.     The  importance  thus  given 
to  the  place  caused  its  name  to  be  given  to  the  lake. 

4  These  had  been  performed  during  His  extensive  circuits  in  Galilee,  and  are 
recorded  by  the  synoptists. 

5  This  was  one  of  the  bold  headlands  or  hills  which  skirt  the  sea  on  every  side 
and  form  the  basin  in  which  it  lies.    Eev.  W.  M.  Thomson  (Land  and  Book,  ii., 
p.  29)  thinks  he  found  the  very  spot  to  which  the  evangelist  refers.     The  hill  or 
mountain  is  now  known  as  Butaiha.    At  its  "extreme  south-east  corner"  "the 
mountain  shuts  down  upon  the  lake,  bleak  and  barren.    It  was  doubtless  desert 
then  as  now,  for  it  is  not  capable  of  cultivation."     He  noticed  the  little  cove,  where 
the  boats  were  anchored,  and  "  the  beautiful  sward  at  the  base  of  the  rocky  hill," 
where  the  people  were  seated  to  receive  the  miraculous  food. 

6  The  third  passover  of  our  Lord's  ministry,  a  year  previous  to  the  one  at  which 

X 


306  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OP    ST.  JOHN. 

5  was  nigh.     When  Jesus  then  lifted  up  His  eyes,  and   saw  a 
great  company1  come  unto  Him,  He  saith  unto  Philip,  Whence 

6  shall  we  buy  bread,  that  these  may  eat  ? 2     And  this  He  said  to 

7  prove  him  :  for  He  himself  knew  what  He  would  do.     Philip3 
answered  Him,  Two  hundred  pennyworth4  of  bread  is  not  suffi- 

8  cient  for  them,  that  every  one  of  them  may  take  a  little.     One  of 
His  disciples,  Andrew,  Simon  Peter's  brother,  saith  unto  Him, 

9  There  is  a  lad 5  here,  which  hath  five  barley  loaves,  and  two 

10  small  fishes  :  but  what  are  they  among  so  many  ?     And  Jesus 
said,  Make  the  men  sit  down.     Now  there  was  much  grass6  in 
the  place.     So  the  men  sat  down,  in  number  about  five  thousand. 

11  And  Jesus  took  the  loaves ; 7  and  when  He  had  given  thanks, 
He  distributed  to  the  disciples,  and  the  disciples  to  them  that 

He  suffered.  The  explanation  that  it  was  "  a  feast  of  the  Jews  "  is  another  of  the 
proofs  that  John  wrote  for  those  not  familiar  with  the  Jewish  ritual,  and  after 
Jerusalem  had  been  destroyed. 

1  His  miracles  had  made  a  deep  impression  on  the  people,  and  great  numbers 
were  gathering  preparing  to  go  up  to  the  feast.     So  many  thronged  around  Him 
that  His  disciples  could  scarcely  find  an  opportunity  to  give  account  to  their  Master 
of  their  late  mission,  or  even  so  much  as  to  eat.     This  led  Him  to  retire  with  them 
to  a  more  sparsely  inhabited  region  on  the  other  side  of  the  sea.     But  the  people 
saw  them  departing  by  boat,  and  ran  afoot  thither  out  of  all  the  cities  (Mark  vi.  33, 
Matt.  xiv.  13). 

2  The  miracle  of  feeding  the  five  thousand  is  found  in  the  other  evangelists,  with 
the  same  attention  to  details.    It  had  a  wonderful  effect  in  deepening  and  extending 
the  conviction  among  the  people  that  Jesus  was  the  Messiah,  as  it  did  also  in  inten- 
sifying the  hatred  of  the  rulers. 

3  Some  have  seen  a  reason  why  Philip  rather  than  any  other  apostle  was  singled 
out  to  have  this  question  put  to  him,  namely,  that  he  had  the  greatest  need  of  the 
teaching  contained  in  it ;  and  refer  to  his  later  words,  "  Lord,  show  us  the  Father  " 
(chap.  xiv.  8).     (Trench.) 

4  Two  hundred  denarii,  equivalent  to  about  thirty  or  thirty-four  dollars. 

5  One  little  boy,  TraiSdpiov,  could  carry  that  from  which  these  hungry  thousands 
were  to  be  fed. 

6  It  was  in  the  spring  of  the  year,  and  grass  would  be  found  where  at  a  later 
period  all  would  be  withered  and  desolate.     They  were  seated  in  ranks  of  hundreds 
and  fifties  (Mark  vi.  40)  on  the  surrounding  slopes  ;  the  shadows  of  evening  were 
gathering. 

7  Whether  the  necessary  increase  took  place  in  the  hands  of  the  Saviour  as  He 
broke,  or  in  those  of  the  disciples  as  they  distributed,  or  in  those  of  the  people  as 
they  ate,  it   becomes  not  us  to  say.     When  five  thousand  hungry  men  besides 
women  and  children  had  satisfied  their  hunger,  twelve  baskets  were  filled  with  the 
fragments,  greatly  exceeding  in  amount  the  original  loaves  and  fishes  which  a  little 
boy  carried  in  a  bag.     "  The  greatness  of  the  miracle  consists  not  merely  in  the  vast 
increase  of  nutritive  material,  but  in  the  nature  of  the  process  which  effected  it,  and 
which  must  be  regarded  as  creative,  since  it  necessarily  involves  not  merely  change 
of  form  or  quality,  or  new  combinations  of  existing  matter,  but  an  absolute  addition 
to  the  matter  itself."    (Alexander  on  Mark,  in  loco.) 


ST.    JOHN   VI.  307 

were  set  down;  and  likewise  of  the  fishes  as  much  as  they 

^2  would.     When  they  were  filled,  He  said  unto  His  disciples, 

Gather  up  the  fragments  that  remain,  that  nothing  be  lost. 

13  Therefore  they  gathered  them  together,  and  filled  twelve l  baskets 
with  the  fragments  of  the  five  barley  loaves,  which  remained 

14  over  and  above  unto  them  that  had  eaten.     Then  those  men, 
when  they  had  seen  the  miracle  that  Jesus  did,  said,  This  is  of 
a   truth    that    prophet 2  that    should    come   into   the   world. 

15  When   Jesus  therefore  perceived  that  they  would  come  and 
take  Him  by  force,  to  make  Him  a  king,3  He  departed  again 
into  a  mountain  Himself  alone. 


14.  By  His  authority  over  the  elements  of  nature  Jesus  shows  to  His 
disciples  that  the  greatest  throne  on  earth  could  confer  no  power  or  eleva- 
tion on  Him.  t 

[Ver.  16-21. 

16  And  when  even  was  now  come,  His  disciples  went  down  unto 

17  the  sea,4  and  entered  into  a  ship,  and  went  over  the  sea  to- 
ward Capernaum.5     And  it  was  now  dark,  and  Jesus  was  not 

18  come  to  them.     And  the  sea  arose  by  reason  of  a  great  wind 

1  Each  of  the  apostles  had  a  basket  full  of  what  remained  over.     And  so,  when 
all  have  partaken  of  the  bread  of  life,  will  there  be  enough  and  to  spare  ;  the  supply 
cannot  be  exhausted. 

2  The  allusion  doubtless  is  to  the  prophet  whom  Moses  foretold  (Deut.  xviii.  15). 
As  Moses  gave  bread  to  the  people  in  the  wilderness,  so  had  He  given  them  bread  in 
this  solitary  place.     The  miracle  was  well  suited  to  produce  the  conviction  that 
Jesus  was  the  promised  Immanuel. 

3  They  shared  in  the  low  carnal  views  respecting  the  Messianic  kingdom  common 
among  the  Jews.     They  were  looking  for  some  one  to  lead  them  against  their  Eoman 
oppressors,  and  what  better  leader  could  they  have  than  One  who  could  supply  His 
armies  with  food  at  a  word,  and  by  the  same  power  do  other  wonderful  things  ? 
They  were  ready  to  seize  Him  in  their  enthusiasm  and  carry  Him  off  by  force  with 
them  to  Jerusalem,  and  there  at  the  passover  publicly  proclaim  Him  king. 

4  This  miracle  of  walking  on  the  sea  is  recorded  with  greater  minuteness  by  two 
other  evangelists,  Matthew  and  Mark ;  but  John  does  not  omit  it  on  this  account, 
as  he  did  not  that  of  the  loaves,  although  for  the  most  part  he  makes  no  record  of 
the  miracles  and  parables  found  in  the  other  Gospels.     It  was  admirably  suited  to 
his  great  purpose. 

5  Mark  names  Bethsaida  as  the  place  to  which  He  had  directed  them  to  go. 
There  were  two  Bethsaidas  (the  name  denotes  a  fishery);  one  of  them  situated  at  the 
entrance  of  the  Jordan  into  the  lake  in  Gaulonitis,  the  other  in  Galilee,  and  pro- 
bably at  no  great  distance  from  Capernaum ;  to  sail  towards  this  latter  place  there- 
fore was  to  sail  towards  Capernaum.     The  Eev.  W.  M.  Thomson's  (Land  and  Book, 
ii.,p.  30)  attempt  to  show  that  there  was  but  one  Bethsaida,  and  to  reconcile  on  this 
theory  Mark  and  John,  appears  wholly  inconclusive. 


308  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OP   ST.  JOHN. 

19  that  blew.1     So  when  they  had  rowed  about  five  and  twenty  or 
thirty  furlongs,  they  see  Jesus  walking2  on  the  sea,  and  drawing 

20  nigh  unto  the  ship  :  and  they  were  afraid.     But  He  saith  unto 

21  them,  It  is  I  ;3  be  not  afraid.     Then  they  willingly  received  Him 
into   the    ship :    and  immediately4  the    ship  was  at  the  land 
whither  they  went. 


15.  In  a  discourse  called  forth  by  the  enthusiasm  of  the  people  in  con- 
sequence of  His  late  miracle,  Jesus  lays  claim  to  functions  which  can  be- 
long only  to  the  promised  Messiah  and  Divine  Saviour. 

[Ver.  22-71. 

22  The  day  following,  when  the  people,  which  stood  on  the  other 
side  of  the  sea,  saw  that  there  was  none  other  boat  there,  save 
that  one  whereinto  His  disciples  were  entered,  and  that  Jesus 
went  not  with  His  disciples  into  the  b^at,  but  that  His  disciples 

23  were  gone  away  alone ;   (howbeit  there  came  other  boats  from 
Tiberias  nigh   unto  the  place  where  they  did  eat  bread,  after 

1  Matthew  says,  "  the  ship  was  now  in  the  midst  of  the  sea,  tossed  with  waves." 
It  was  an  inland  lake,  surrounded  with  mountains,  through  the  gorges  of  which 
sudden  violent  squalls  often  rush. 

2  Mark  says  that  as  He  approached  the  vessel  it  seemed  as  if  He  "  would  pass  by 
them."     And  they  were  afraid,  "  cried  out,"  "  it  is  a  spirit,"  supposing  it  was  some 
wild  phantom  moving  amid  the  storm.     It  was  not  a  dim  glimpse  or  doubtful  view 
which  some  one  or  two  of  the  more  terrified  of  the  party  thought  they  had,  "for 
they  all  saw  Him." 

3  Literally  it  is  "  I  am,"  'Eyco  efyu,  strikingly  coinciding  with  the  Divine  name  as 
given  to  Moses  (Exod.  iii.  14).     They  were  not  far  from  the  middle  of  the  lake,  as 
"  they  had  rowed  about  five  and  twenty  or  thirty  furlongs  "  ;  and  as  it  was  "  about 
the  fourth  watch  of  the  night "  it  was  nearly  morning.     An  incident  is  recorded  by 
Matthew  which  is  passed  unnoticed  by  both  Mark  and  John,  eminently  characteristic 
of  Peter,  his  attempt  to  walk  on  the  sea  and  the  failure  of  his  faith. 

4  By  Matthew  and  Mark  it  is  said  that  when  He  had  entered  the  vessel  "  the 
wind  ceased."     The  subsiding  of  the  wind  was  a  part  of  the  miracle,  as  doubtless 
we  are  to  understand,  what  John  says,  that  the  vessel  was  immediately  at  the  land 
as  also  a  part  of  it.     We  need  not  wonder  that  the  disciples  according  to  the  record 
of  Matthew  came  "  and  worshipped  Him,  saying,  Of  a  truth  Thou  art  the  Son  of 
God."    It  was  a  miracle  designed  to  strengthen  their  conviction  that  He  was  verily 
the  Christ  of  God ;  and  to  teach  them  that  He  was  a  Being  of  such  power  and 
glory  that  with  Him  the  crowns  and  sceptres  of  this  world  were  the  veriest  baubles, 
and  that  to  be  at  the  head  of  such  an  empire  as  that  of  the  Csesars  would  confer  no 
authority,  no  power,  and  would  be  no  elevation.     They  had  seen  this  same  power 
over  the  elements  on  this  very  lake  on  a  former  occasion.     He  was  then  with  them 
in  the  boat,  but  was  asleep  at  the  rising  of  the  storm.     Nature,  in  the  hour  of  her 
wildest  uproar,  yielded  obedience  to  Him.    He  who  retired  to  the  mountain  to  pray, 
and  slept  on  a  pillow  in  the  hinder  part  of  the  boat,  could  walk  on  the  sea,  still  the 
tempest,  and  save  the  sinking  Peter. 


ST.    JOHN    VI.  309 

24  that  the  Lord  had  given  thanks  :)   when  the  people  therefore 
saw  that  Jesus  was  not  there,  neither  His  disciples,  they  also 
took  shipping,  and  came   to   Capernaum,   seeking  for  Jesus. 

25  And  when  they  had  found  Him  on  the  other  side  of  the  sea, 

26  they  said  unto  Him,  Eabbi,  when  earnest  Thou  hither  ?     Jesus 
answered  them  and  said,  Yerily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  Ye  seek 
Me,  not  because  ye  saw  the  miracles,  but  because  ye  did  eat  of 

27  the  loaves,  and  were  filled.     Labour1  not  for  the  meat  which 
perisheth,  but  for  that  meat  which  endureth  unto  everlasting 
life,  which  the  Son  of  man  shall  give  unto  you  :  for  Him  hath 

28  God  the  Father  sealed.     Then  said  they  unto  Him,  What  shall 

29  we  do,  that  we  might  work  the  works  of  God  ?     Jesus  answered 
and  said  unto  them,  This  is  the  work  of  God,  that  ye  believe  on 

30  Him  whom  He   hath   sent.     They  said  therefore  unto  Him, 
What  sign2  showest  Thou  then,  that  we  may  see,  and  believe 

31  Thee  ?  what  dost  Thou  work  ?     Our  fathers  did  eat  manna  in 
the  desert ;  as  it  is  written,  He  gave  them  bread  from  heaven 

32  to  eat.     Then  Jesus  said  unto  them,  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto 
you,  Moses  gave  you  not  that  bread  from  heaven ;  but   My 

33  Father  giveth  you  the  true  bread  from  heaven.     For  the  bread 
of  God  is  He  which  comefch  down  from  heaven,  and  giveth  life 

34  unto  the  world.     Then  said  they  unto   Him,  Lord,  evermore 

35  give  us  this  bread.     And  Jesus  said  unto  them,  I  am  the  bread 
of  life  :  he  that  cometh  to  Me  shall  never  hunger ;  and  he  that 

36  believeth  on  Me  shall  never  thirst.     But  I  said  unto  you,  That 

37  ye  also  have  seen  Me,  and  believe  not.     All  that  the  Father 

1  That  the  miracles  of  Christ  are  not  to  be  viewed  as  merely  wonderful  works, 
but  while  they  are  proofs  of  His  Messiahship  suggest  also  important  moral  teaching, 
and  particularly  after  the  manner  of  types  serve  to  illustrate  the  works  of  Christ 
in  His  kingdom  of  grace,  or  to  demonstrate  kthat  He  has  the  same  power  in  the 
spiritual  invisible  kingdom  which  He  has  in  the  world  of  nature  or  matter,  we 
have  no  better  example  than  in  the  feeding  of  the  five  thousand  and  the  discourse 
founded  on  it. 

2  When  they  asked  for  a  higher  "  sign"  than  He  had  already  given  them,  He 
directed  then-  attention  to  the  power  or  effect  of  faith  in  Him,  to  the  miracles  of 
grace  that  were  wrought  in  the  realm  of  the  spirit,  of  which  those  wrought  in 
nature  were  but  a  mere  type.    As  in  the  conversation  with  the  woman  of  Samaria, 
availing  Himself  of  the  figure  suggested  by  the  water,  He  sought  to  present  Himself 
as  the  water  of  life  of  which  if  a  man  drink  he  shall  never  thirst ;  so  here,  taking 
the  bread  which  He  had  multiplied  in  the  miracle,  and  which  His  interlocutors,  not 
relishing  His  doctrine,  strove  to  bring  into  unfavourable  contrast  with  the   manna 
given  by  miracle  by  Moses  in  the  desert,  He  seeks  to  present  Himself  as  the  true 
Bread  from  heaven,  of  which  the  manna  and  the  loaves  in  these  miracles  were 
but  types,  and  thus  to  reveal  Himself  as  the  Lifegiver  and  only  Saviour. 


310  THE    LIFE   AND   WEITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

giveth  Me  shall  come  to  Me ;  and  him  that  cometh  to  Me  I 

38  will  in  no  wise  cast  out.     For  I  came  down  from  heaven,  not  to 

39  do  Mine  own  will,  but  the  will  of  Him  that  sent  Me.     And  this 
is  the  Father's  will  which  hath  sent  Me,  that  of  all  which  He 
hath  given  Me  I  should  lose  nothing,  but  should  raise  it  up 

40  again  at  the  last  day.     And  this  is  the  will1  of  Him  that  sent 
Me,  that  every  one  which  seeth  the  Son,  and  believeth  on  Him, 
may  have  everlasting  life :  and  I  will  raise  him  up  at  the  last 

41  day.     The  Jews  then  murmured  at  Him,  because  He  said,  I  am 

42  the  bread  which  came  down  from  heaven.     And  they  said,  Is 
not  this  Jesus,  the  son  of  Joseph,  whose  father  and  mother  we 
know  ?  how  is  it  then  that  He  saith,  I  came  down  from  heaven  ? 

43  Jesus  therefore   answered  and  said  unto  them,   Murmur  not 

44  among  yourselves.     No  man  can  come  to  Me,  except  the  Father 
which  hath  sent  Me  draw  him  :  and  I  will  raise  him  up  at  the 

45  last  day.     It  is  written  in  the  prophets,  And  they  shall  be  all 
taught  of  God.     Every  man  therefore  that  hath  heard,  and  hath 

46  learned  of  the  Father,  cometh  unto  Me.     Not  that  any  man 
hath  seen  the  Father,  save  He  which  is  of  God,  He  hath  seen 

47  the  Father.     Yerily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  He  that  believeth 

48  on    Me    hath    everlasting    life.      I    am    that   bread   of    life. 

49  Your  fathers  did  eat  manna  in  the  wilderness,  and  are  dead. 

50  This  is  the  bread  which  cometh  down  from  heaven,  that  a  man 

51  may  eat  thereof,  and  not  die.     I  am  the  living  bread  which 
came  down  from  heaven  :  if  any  man  eat  of  this  bread,  he  shall 
live  for  ever  :  and  the  bread  that  I  will  give  is  My  flesh,  which 

52  I  will  give  for  the  life  of  the  world.     The  Jews  therefore  strove 
among  themselves,  saying,  How  can  this  man  give  us  His  flesh 

53  to  eat  ?     Then  Jesus  said  unto  them,  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto 
you,  Except  ye  eat2  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man,  and  drink  His 

54  blood,  ye  have  no  life  in  you.     Whoso  eateth  My  flesh,  and 

1  These  Jews  might  resist  and  ignore  the  evidence  of  His  Messiahship,  but  His 
mission  could  not  thus  be  defeated.     There  were  others  who  would  be  convinced 
and  come  to  Him.      Coming  to  Him,   i.e.   believing  in  Him,  He  would  be  to 
them  the  source  of  everlasting  life.     Their  resurrection,  at  the  last  day,  would  be 
the  consummation  of  their  redemption.     The  inability  of  any  to  come  to  Christ  is 
moral,  not  physical ;  i.e.,  it  arises  from  an  insensibility  of  heart,  a  disinclination 
of  will,  an  inability  the  most  deplorable  of  all. 

2  Although  the  Lord's  Supper  had  not  yet  been  instituted,  we  unmistakably  find 
here  the  idea  which  underlies  that  holy  sacrament,  and  the  great  doctrine  which, 
in  the  breaking  of  bread  and  the  pouring  out  of  wine,  is  set  forth,  the  expiatory 
death  of  Christ.     We  find  the  same  mention  of  the  death  of  Jesus,  or  in  the  same 


ST.   JOHN    VI.  311 

drinketh  My  blood,  hath  eternal  life ;  and  I  will  raise  him  up 

55  at  the  last  day.     For  My  flesh  is  meat  indeed,  and  My  blood  is 

56  drink  indeed.     He  that  eateth  My  flesh,  and  drinketh  My  blood, 

57  dwelleth  in  Me,  and  I  in  him.     As  the  living  Father  hath  sent 
Me,  and  I  live  by  the  Father ;  so  he  that  eateth  Me,  even  he 

58  shall  live  by  Me.     This  is  that  bread  which  came  down  from 
heaven :  not  as  your  fathers  did  eat  manna,  and  are  dead  :  he 

59  that  eateth  of  this  bread  shall  live  for  ever.     These  things  said 

60  He  in  the   synagogue,  as  He  taught  in  Capernaum.     Many 
therefore  of  His  disciples,  when  they  had  heard  this,  said,  This 

61  is  a  hard 1  saying  :  who  can  hear  it  ?     When  Jesus  knew  in 
Himself  that  His  disciples  murmured  at  it,  He  said  unto  them, 

62  Doth  this  offend  you  ?     What  and  if  ye  shall  see  the  Son  of 

63  man  ascend  up  where  He  was  before  ?     It  is  the  spirit  that 
quickeneth ;  the  flesh  profiteth  nothing :  the  words  that  I  speak 

64  unto  you,  they  are  spirit,  and  they  are  life.     But  there  are  some 
of  you  that  believe  not.     For  Jesus  knew  from  the  beginning 
who  they  were  that  believed  not,  and  who  should  betray  Him. 

65  And  He  said,  Therefore  said  I  unto  you,  that  no  man  can  come 

66  unto  Me  except  it  were  given  unto  him  of  My  Father.     From 
that  time  many  of  His  disciples  went  back,  and  walked  no  more 

67  with  Him.     Then  said  Jesus  unto  the  twelve,  Will  ye  also  go 

68  away?     Then  Simon   Peter 2  answered  Him,   Lord,  to  whom 

69  shall  we  go  ?   Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life.     And  we  be- 
lieve and  are  sure  that  Thou  art  that  Christ,  the  Son  of  the 

70  living  God.     Jesus   answered  them,   Have  not  I  chosen  you 

71  twelve,  and  one  of  you  is  a  devil  ?     He  spake  of  Judas  Iscariot 
the  son  of  Simon  :  for  he  it  was  that  should  betray  Him,  being 
one  of  the  twelve. 

form  of  speech,  as  in  the  institutive  words  of  the  Supper,  and  proclamation  of  the 
same  truths  of  which  that  ordinance  is  the  symbol  and  the  memorial. 

1  Although  Christ  uttered  no  denunciations,  a  sifting  power  went  along  with  His 
words ;  and  men  who  had  been  attracted  to  declare  themselves  His  disciples,  but 
possessed  no  true  faith,  pronounced  His  doctrine  a  hard  saying. 

2  In  his  touching  reply  and  grand  confession,  Peter  must  be  regarded  as  speaking 
not  only  for  himself,  but  for  his  associates,  excepting  Judas  Iscariot  the  betrayer. 

Christ  calls  Himself  the  Bread  of  Life,  because  He  is  the  gift  of  God ;  because 
He  gave  His  life  for  the  life  of  the  world  ;  because  it  is  only  by  believing  in  Him 
that  we  become  partakers  of  spiritual  life,  and  can  be  made  partakers,  even  as  to 
our  bodies,  of  life  immortal  at  the  last  day. 

One  of  the  Christian  fathers  has  observed  that  as  the  magnet  does  not  attract 
everything,  but  only  iron,  so  also  to  be  attracted  by  Christ  there  must  exist  a  cer- 
tain frame  of  mind,  the  feeling  of  what  we  should  be  and  are  not.  "While  some 


312  THE   LIFE    AND   WEITINGS    OP   ST.  JOHN. 

16.  At  the  feast  of  Tabernacles  in  Jerusalem  He  vindicates  His  Messiahship 

before  a  promiscuous  assemblage  of  the  people,  with  convincing  poiuer. 
VII.]  [Yer.  1-31. 

1  After  these  things  Jesus  walked  in  Galilee:  for  He  would 

2  not  walk  in  Jewry/  because  the  Jews  sought  to  kill  Him.     Now 

3  the  Jews'  feast  of  tabernacles 2  was  at  hand.     His  brethren8 
therefore  said  unto  Him,  Depart  hence,  and  go  into  Judaea,  that 

4  Thy  disciples  also  may  see  the  works  that  Thou  doest.     For 
there  is  no  man  that  doeth  anything  in  secret,  and  he  himself 
seeketh  to  be  known  openly.     If  Thou  do  these  things,  show 

5  Thyself  to  the  world.     For  neither  did  His  brethren  believe  in 

abuse  the  doctrine  of  dependence,"  says  Dr.  Jacobus  (see  his  Notes)  "  so  as  to  excuse 
themselves,  and  '  wait  God's  time,'  others  equally  abuse  the  doctrine  of  independ- 
ence, so  as  to  wait  a  more  convenient  season." 

1  We  have  in  verse  1  the  evidence  rendering  it  probable  that  Jesus  did  not  visit 
Jerusalem  on  the  occasion  of  the  passover  mentioned  in  verse  4  of  the  preceding 
chapter,  which  was  the  third  in  His  ministry.     He  "  walked,"  i.e.  journeyed,  or 
prosecuted  His  ministry  in  Galilee,  and  would  not  walk  or  journey  in  Judsea  for  the 
reason  that  the  Jews,  those  dwelling  at  Jerusalem,  the  leaders  of  the  nation,  sought 
to  kill  Him.     Six  months  were  occupied  in  itinerating  about  Galilee,  of  which  John 
gives  no  account  whatever,  and  during  which  some  of  the  most  interesting  events 
occurred  in  our  Lord's  history.    For  the  only  time  during  His  ministry  He  then 
passed  beyond  the  bounds  of  Palestine,  visiting  the  region  of  T,yre  and  Sidon,  where 
He  had  His  interview  with  the  Syro-phoenician  woman  whose  daughter  He  healed. 
With  in  the  same  period  falls  the  miracle  of  feeding  the  four  thousand,  and  the  heal- 
ing of  the  blind  man  at  Bethsaida.     At  first  sight  it  seems  strange,  considering 
that  it  was  the  object  of  John  to  present  the  signs  or  proofs  of  the  Divine  mission 
and  Messiahship  of  Jesus,  that  he  should  omit  an  account  of  that  wonderful  scene, 
His  transfiguration  on  the  mount,  and  His  being  visited  by  two  glorified  saints  from 
heaven,  of  which  we  have  a  particular  account  in  the  other  evangelists.    What  could 
have  been  better  suited  to  his  purpose  ?    Why  does  he  then  omit  all  reference  to  it, 
especially  when  he  was  himself  one  of  the  three  disciples  who  were  with  Him  on  the 
mount?     The  only  answer  and  one  that  seems  to  be  sufficient  is  that  John,  writing 
in  and  for  the  Gentile  world,  selected  those  miracles  which  were  performed  on  the 
most  public  occasions,  in  the  midst  of  the  greatest  number  of  witnesses,  or  of 
witnesses  that  were  hostile  or  unfavourable  to  Jesus,  like  those  at  the  marriage  in 
Cana,  the  healing  of  the  nobleman's  son  at  Capernaum  and  the  impotent  man  at 
Bethesda,  the  feeding  of  the  five  thousand,  and  the  raising  of  Lazarus. 

2  The  feast  of  tabernacles  was  one  of  the  great  annual  festivals.    It  began  on 
the  Jewish  month  Tisri,  with  the  new  moon  corresponding  to  that  in  our  own 
month  of  October ;  it  continued  eight  days,  the  first  and  last  days  being  sabbaths 
to  the  Lord,  the  eighth  or  last  being  called  the  great  day  of  the  feast.     (Josephus, 
Ant.  viii.  4.  1.) 

3  By  his  "  brethren "  we  are  doubtless  to  understand  His  relatives  and  near 
kinsmen,  who  did  not  believe  on  Him,  i.e.,  had  no  conception  of  the  spiritual  nature 
of  the  kingdom  He  came  to  establish ;  they  wished  Him  to  go,  and  in  the  presence  of 
the  great  ones  of  the  nation  establish  His  power  and  kingdom.     These  brethren 
subsequently  had  their  erroneous  views  corrected  :  Acts  i.  14. 


ST.    JOHN    VII.  313 

6  Him.     Then  Jesus  said  unto  them,  My  time  is  not  yet  come  : 

7  but  your  time  is  always  ready.     The  world  cannot  hate  you ; 
but  Me  it  hateth,  because  I  testify  of  it,  that  the  works  thereof 

8  are  evil.     Go  ye  up  unto  this  feast :  I  go1  not  up  yet  unto  this 

9  feast ;  for  My  time  is  not  yet  full  come.     When  He  had  said 

10  these  words  unto  them,  He  abode  still  in  Galilee.     But  when 
His  brethren  were  gone  up,  then  went  He  also  up  unto  the 

11  feast,  not  openly,  but  as  it  were  in  secret.3     Then  the  Jews 

12  sought  Him  at  the  feast,  and  said,  Where  is  He  ?     And  there 
was  much  murmuring  among  the  people  concerning  Him :  for 
some  said,   He  is  a  good   man  :    others   said,  Nay ;   but  He 

13  deceiveth  the  people.     Howbeit  no  man  spake  openly  of  Him 

14  for  fear  of  the  Jews.     Now  about  the  midst 3  of  the  feast  Jesus 

15  went  up  into  the  temple,  and  taught.     And  the  Jews  marvelled, 
saying,  How  knoweth  this  man  letters,4  having  never  learned  ? 

16  Jesus  answered  them,  and  said,  My  doctrine5  is  not  Mine,  but 

17  His  that  sent  Me.     If  any  man  will  do  His  will,  he  shall  know6 
of  the  doctrine,  whether  it  be  of  God,  or  whether  I  speak  of 

18  Myself.     He  that  speaketh  of  himself  seeketh  his  own  glory : 
but  he  that  seeketh  his  glory  that  sent  him,  the  same  is  true, 

. x  As  private  persons  the  time  of  His  brethren's  departure  for  Judasa  was  a  matter 
of  little  moment ;  but  there  was  a  precise  hour  and  moment  fixed  for  His  departure, 
and  He  was  to  stay  in  Galilee  until  it  arrived. 

2  He  permitted  the  company  or  caravan  that  were  going  to  Jerusalem  to  start.   For 
some  important  reason  He  desired  to  make  the  journey  and  to  arrive  in  Jerusalem 
as  privately  as  possible.     On  the  arrival  of  the  Galileans  there  was  great  inquiry 
made  for  Him.     St.  John  gives  an  account  of  this  sharp  controversy   among  the 
people,  that  it  might  appear  to  his  readers  that  the  question  of  the  Messiahship  of 
Jesus,  at  the  very  time  of  His  presence  on  earth,  was  weighed  and  considered,  and 

•  that  notwithstanding  the  hatred  of  the  men  in  power,  which  had  so  threatened  His 
life  as  to  keep  Him  from  Jerusalem  for  more  than  a  year,  there  was  a  considerable 
party  among  the  common  people  who  were  ready  to  receive  Him. 

3  The  days  allotted  to  the  feast  had  about  half  expired,  and  He  suddenly,  and  pro- 
bably after  aU  expectation  of  His  coming  had  subsided,  presents  Himself  in  the 
temple,  and  publicly  assumes  the  character  of  one  authorized  to  teach. 

4  By  "  letters  "  we  are  to  understand  learning  as  it  existed  among  the  Jews,  rabbin- 
ical learning,  the  expression  being  used  precisely  as  it  frequently  is  amongst  us 
when  we  say  "  a  man  of  letters,"  meaning  a  man  of  literary  culture.     Every  Jewish 
parent  was  required  to  teach  his  children  to  read,  and  to  see  that  when  arriving  at  six 
years  of  age  they  attended  the  schools  where  the  rudiments  of  education  were  taught. 

5  Jesus  seems  to  resume  His  teaching  just  where  He  broke  it  off,  when  after 
healing  the  impotent  man  at  Bethesda  His  life  had  been  sought,  and  He  delivered  the 
important  discourse  recorded  in  chapter  v.    He  again  openly  claims  to  have  come 
from  God. 

6  In  respect  to  moral  and  religious  truth,  the  state  of  the  heart  has  very  much  to 
do  with  clear  and  right  perceptions. 


314  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OP    ST.  JOHN. 

19  and  no  unrighteousness  is  in  him.     Did  not  Moses  give  you  the 
law,  and  yet  none  of  you  keepeth  the  law  ?     Why  go  ye  about 

20  to  kill  Me  ?     The  people  answered  and  said,  Thou  hast  a  devil : 

21  who  goeth  about  to  kill  Thee  ?     Jesus  answered  and  said  unto 

22  them,  I  have  done  one 1  work,  and  ye  all  marvel.     Moses  there- 
fore gave  unto  you  circumcision ;   (not  because  it  is  of  Moses, 
but  of  the  fathers ;)  and  ye  on  the  sabbath  day  circumcise  a 

23  man.     If  a  man  on  the  sabbath  day  receive  circumcision,  that 
the  law  of  Moses  should  not  be  broken  ;  are  ye  angry  with  Me, 
because  I  have  made  a  man  every  whit  whole  on  the  sabbath 

24  day  ?     Judge    not    according   to   the   appearance,   but  judge 

25  righteous  judgment.     Then  said  some  of  them  of  Jerusalem,2  Is 

26  not  this  He,  whom  they  seek  to  kill  ?     But,  lo,  He  speaketh 
boldly,  and  they  say  nothing  unto  Him.     Do  the  rulers  know 

27  in  deed  that  this  is  the  very  Christ?     Howbeit  we  know  this 
man  whence  He  is  :  but  when  Christ  cometh,  no  man  knoweth 

28  whence  He  is.     Then  cried  Jesus  in  the  temple  as  He  taught, 
saying,  Ye  both  know  Me,  and  ye  know  whence  I  am  :  and  I 
am  not  come  of  Myself,  but  He  that  sent  Me  is  true,  whom  ye 

29  know  not.     But  I  know  Him ;  for  I  am  from  Him,  and  He 
30 hath  sent  Me.     Then  they  sought3  to  take  Him  :  but  no  man 
31  laid  hands  on  Him,  because  His  hour  was  not  yet  come.     And 

many  of  the  people  believed  on  Him,  and  said,  When  Christ 
cometh,  will  He  do  more  miracles  than  these  which  this  man 
hath  done  ? 

1  Jesus  refers  to  what  had  taken  place  when  He  was  last  in  Jerusalem,  eighteen 
months  before,  when  He  healed  the  impotent  man.     His  reference  to  this  one  work 
was  all  that  was  necessary  to  justify  the  question  why  they  sought  to  slay  Him. 
He  knew  the  answer  they  would  make,  that  it  was  because  He  performed  this  work 
on  the  sabbath,  and  therefore  refers  to  the  rite  of  circumcision,  which  could  be 
performed  on  the  sabbath  without  violating  it,  and  asks  (the  argument  is  a  fortiori) , 
"  Are  ye  angry  at  Me  ?  "  etc.    The  Sinaitic  MS.  omits  "  therefore  "  in  verse  22. 

2  Kesidents  in  Jerusalem,  instead  of  visitors.     They  confess  by  their  question 
their  knowledge  of  the  evil  intentions  of  His  enemies,  and  their  surprise  that  He 
should  be  permitted  publicly  to  proclaim  His  Messiahship  and  teach  the  people. 
It  prompts  the  query  whether  the  rulers  did  not  know,  or  were  not  convinced,  that 
Jesus  was  the  Christ ;  and  then,  as  if  they  had  gone  too  far,  they  refer  to  His  birth- 
place, presuming  of  course  that  He  was  born  in  Galilee,  as  conclusive  proof  that  He 
could  not  be  the  Messiah. 

3  That  is,  some  movement  was  made  as  if  they  would  arrest  Him  on  the  spot ; 
but  as  "  His  hour  was  not  yet  come,"  it  proved  a  mere  feint.     They  were  manifestly 
restrained  by  the  favour  with  which  many  in  the  crowd  were  disposed  to  regard  Him. 
Many  believed  on  Him  as  the  promised  Messiah,  as  is  evident  from  the  question 
"When  Christ  cometh,"  etc. 


ST.    JOHN   VII.  315 

17.    Such  was    the   impression  made    %    Him  on    the  officers    of   the 
Sanhedrin  itself,  that  they  retired  abashed  from  His  presence. 

[Ver.  32-53. 

32      The  Pharisees  heard  that  the  people  murmured  such  things x 

concerning  Him ;  and  the  Pharisees 2  and  the  chief  priests  sent 

33 officers3  to   take  Him.      Then  said  Jesus   unto  them,  Yet  a 

little  4  while  am  I  with  you,  and  then  I  go  unto  Him  that  sent 

34  Me.     Ye  shall  seek 5  Me,  and  shall  not  find  Me  :  and  where  I 

35  am,  thither  ye  cannot  come.     Then  said  the 6  Jews  among  them- 
selves, Whither  will  He  go,  that  we  shall  not  find  Him  ?  will 
He  go  unto  the  dispersed  among  the  Gentiles,7  and  teach  the 

36  Gentiles  ?     What  manner  of  saying  is  this  that  He  said,  Ye 
shall  seek  Me,  and  shall  not  find  Me  :  and  where   I  am  thither 

37  ye  cannot  come  ?     In  the  last 8    day,   that  great  day  of  the 

1  Such  things  as  the  question  in  verse  31.     The  manifest  tendency  among  the 
common  people  convinced  the  Pharisees  of  the  necessity  of  immediate  action. 

2  The  Sanhedrin. 

3  Such  was  the  effect  of  His  discourse,  which  He  continued  in  the  hearing  of  the 
people,  that  they  could  not  proceed  ;  their  officers  stand  and  listen  to  His  words,  and 
felt  the  strange  power  that  attended  them. 

4  Another  six  months  would  bring  the  passover  at  which  He  was  to  suffer. 

6  His  kingdom  was  to  come  with  so  little  of  "  observation  "  that,  so  far  as  the  great 
mass  of  the  Jewish  nation  was  concerned,  it  would  be  after  His  departure  as  if  He  had 
never  appeared  among  them.  That  great,  visible,  temporal  kingdom  for  which  they 
were  looking  would  never  come ;  and  in  looking  for  it  they  would  fail  to  become 
members  of  His  spiritual  kingdom. 

6  The  hostile  party  among  His  auditors. 

7  The  Jews  were  widely  dispersed  among  the  Gentiles,  and  had  become  permanently 
settled  among  them,  forming  communities  that  were  to  prove  places  of  refuge  to  the 
people  when  the  great  calamity  should  come  upon  the  nation.     The  Greeks, "EXX^es,  is 
the  word  in  the  original  for  Gentiles.    So  extensively  had  the  Greek  civilization 
impressed    itself    on    the    heathen   world  that  the  term  Greeks  in  the  N.  T.  is 
often  employed  to  denote  the  heathen  world :  even  in  writing  to  the  Eomans  Paul 
uses  it,  Bom.  i.  14,  for  all  that  portion  of  the  heathen  world  that  might  be  dis- 
tinguished from  barbarians.     "Neander,"  says  Owen,   "would  almost  seem  to  be 
right  in  his  conjecture  that  the  Jews  had  begun  to  surmise  the  tendency  of  Christ's 
teaching  to  embrace  mankind  universally." 

8  It  was  observed  with  great  solemnity,  it  closed  the  festival,  and  it  was  the  closing 
feast  day  of  the  year.     On  the  day  previous,  the  seventh  day,  the  people  had  ceased 
to  occupy  booths  and  to  offer  sacrifices,  or  the   sacrifice  ;  for  it  was  remarkable 
about  this  feast  that  the  animal  sacrifices  offered  were  diminished  in  number  daily, 
until  the  last  day,  when  but  one  was  offered,   pointing  plainly  to  the  one  great 
Sacrifice,  the  Lamb  of  God  ;  and  so  also  this  great  day  of  the  feast  pointed  forward 
to  that  great  festal  day,  when  Christ,  the  firstfruits,  should  be  presented  in  His 
resurrection.     The  concourse  at  the  temple  would  be  greater  than  on  any  previous 
occasion ;   Jesus  availed  Himself  of  the  opportunity  to  deliver  one  of  His  most 
impressive  and  plainest  addresses. 


316  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

feast,  Jesus  stood  and  cried,  saying,  If  any  man  thirst,  let  him 
38  come  unto  Me  and  drink.1  He  that  belie veth  on  Me,  as  the 

Scripture  hath  said,  out  of  his  belly  shall  flow  2  rivers  of  living 
39 water.  (But  this  spake3  He  of  the  Spirit,  which  they  that 

believe  on  Him  should  receive  :  for  the  Holy  Ghost  was  not  yet 

40  given ;  because  that  Jesus  was  not  yet  glorified.)     Many  of  the 
people  therefore,  when  they  heard  this  saying,  said,  Of  a  truth 

41  this  is- the  Prophet.      Others  said,  This   is  the   Christ.4     But 

42  some  said,  Shall  Christ  come  out  of  Galilee  ?     Hath  not  the 
Scripture  said,  That    Christ    cometh    of  the    seed    of   David, 

43  and  out  of  the  town  of  Bethlehem,  where  David  was  ?     So  there 

44  was  a  division 5  among  the  people  because  of  Him.     And  some 
of  them  would  have  taken  Him ;  but  no  man  laid  hands  on 

45  Him.     Then  came  the  officers  6  to  the  chief  priests  and  Phari- 
sees;  and  they  said  unto  them,   Why  have  ye  not  brought 

1  There  is  an  allusion,  as  has  been  supposed,  to  the  ceremony  in  which  every  day 
at  the  morning  sacrifice  the  priest  poured  water,  which  had  been  brought  from 
Siloam,  mingled  with  wine,  on  the  altar,  amidst  the  sound  of  trumpets  and  cymbals, 
and  the  Hallel  (Psalm  cxiii.  to  cxviii.)  was  sung.    On  this  day,  with  louder  and  more 
general  expressions  of  joy,  the  water  was  brought  from  the  pool  in  a  golden  vessel; 
and  it  has  been  supposed  that  it  was  when  it  was  being  borne  in  jubilant  procession 
towards  the  altar  that  Jesus  cried,  uttering  these  impressive  words.     The  coming 
and  drinking  of  the  thirsty  man  is  figurative  of  the  believing  of  the  weary  and 
heavily  laden  sinner. 

2  He  shall  dispense  to  others,  as  an  instrument,  the  grace  which  he  receives,  "as 
the  Scripture  hath  said."     The  particular  passages  referred  to  are  such  as  these: 
Isa.  xliv.  3,  Iviii.  11 ;  Ezek.  xlvii.  1-12 ;  Joel  iii.  18 ;  Zech.  xiv.  8.   Christ  is  the  Siloam 
from  which  the  living  water  is  supplied  ;  believers  are  the  golden  vessels  from  which 
it  is  to  be  freely  imparted  to  others. 

3  St.  John  here  throws  in  an  explanation  of  what  is  to  be  understood  by  the  living 
water,  "  This  spake  He  of  the  Spirit,"  etc.     He  says  that  it  was  of  those  copious 
effusions  of  the  Spirit  that  should  be  granted  when  Jesus  should  be  glorified,  of 
which  He  spake.     It  was  the  permanent  indwelling  of  the  Spirit  by  which  believers 
should,  as  never  before,  be  channels  of  spiritual  blessings  from  the  fountain  of  life. 

4  Such  was  the  effect  of  this  tender  and  earnest  discourse  that  those  who  had 
begun  to  whisper  whether  they  could  expect  the  Christ  they  were  awaiting  to  do 
greater  miracles,  now  boldly  said,  "  This  is  the  Prophet.    Others  said,  This  is  the 
Christ."     The  opposing  party  condescend  to  argue,  and  raise  the  question  concern- 
ing His  origin  and  birthplace.     But  in  their  reference  to  Scripture  they  did  but 
confirm  the  claims  of  Jesus,  for  He  was  of  the  seed  of  David,  and  was  born  at  Beth- 
lehem.    Ps.  Ixxxix.  3,  4,  cxxxii.  11 ;  Mic.  v.  2. 

5  It  is  evident  that  His  friends  and  those  who  had  been  favourably  impressed 
were  now  in  the  ascendancy ;  although  all  the  fear  had  been  on  this  side  in  the 
beginning,  it  was  now  transferred  to  the  other  ;  "  no  man  laid  hands  on  Him." 

6  The  effect  on  the  officers  was  most  remarkable.     Although  armed  with  authority 
from  the  Sanhedrin,  they  did  not  make  the  arrest.     Their  report  was,  "  Never  man 
spake  like  this  Man."    It  was,  to  say  the  least,  a  signal  instance  of  His  power  over 


ST.   JOHN  VIII.  317 

• 

46  Him  ?     The  officers  answered,  Never  man  spake  like  this  man. 

47  Then   answered  them   the  Pharisees,  Are  ye  also   deceived  ? 

48  Have  any  of  the  rulers l  or  of  the  Pharisees  believed  on  Him  ? 

49  But    this    people    who    knoweth    not    the    law    are    cursed. 

50  Nicodemus  saith  unto  them,  (he  that  came  to  Jesus  by  night, 

51  being  one  of  them,)     Doth  our  law  judge  any  man,  before  it 

52  hear  him  and  know  what  he  doeth  ?     They  answered  and  said 
unto  him,  Art  thou  also  of  Galilee  ?     Search,  and  look  :     for 

53  out  of  Galilee  ariseth  no 2  prophet.     And  every  man  went  unto 
his  own  house. 

18.  Such  was  the  conviction  wrought  in  the  consciences  of  members  o 
the  Sanhedrin  itself,  that  they  retired  abashed  from  His  presence. 

VIII.]  [Ver.  1-1] . 

1,2   Jesus  went 3  unto  the  mount  of  Olives.    And  early  in  the  morn- 
ing He  came  again  into  the  temple,  and  all  the  people  came 

3  unto  Him;  and  He  sat  down  and  taught  them.      And  the 
scribes  and  Pharisees  brought 4  unto  Him  a  woman  taken  in 

men  in  respect  to  whom  there  was  no  antecedent  probability,  but  quite  the  reverse, 
that  they  would  be  impressed  in  His  favour.  The  Pharisees  were  evidently  startled 
and  more  alarmed  than  ever. 

1  This  question  may  have  been  as  much  directed  to  Nicodemus  as  to  the  officers  ; 
and  he  very  pertinently  asks,  hearing  their  reference  to  the  law,  "Doth  our  law 
judge  any  man  before  it  hear  him  and  know  what  he  doeth  ?  "     He  is.  not  afraid  to 
speak  and  let  it  appear  in  this  excited  assembly  that  he  is  so  far  a  friend  of  Jesus 
that  he  will  insist  on  His  being  dealt  with  according  to  law.    For  proof  that  his 
original  coming  to  Jesus  "  by  night  "  was  not  prompted  by  fear,  see  on  chap.  iii.  2. 

2  The  truth  was  that  several  eminent  prophets  had  arisen  in  Galilee. 

3  The  last  verse  of  the  preceding  chapter  is  closely  connected  with  this:1  "and 
every  man  went  unto  his  own  house  "  ;  "  but  Jesus  went,"  etc.     This  is  the  only 
instance  in  which  St.  John  names  the  Mount  of  Olives.     Jesus  probably  went  to  pass 
the  night  in  His  beloved  Bethany. 

The  Sinaitic  and  Vatican  MSS.  omit  the  first  eleven  verses  of  this  chapter  and  the 
last  of  the  preceding,  and  in  the  MSS.  in  which  the  passage  is  found  it  is  marked  by 
an  extraordinary  number  of  variations,  which  by  many  are  regarded  as  affording 
additional  evidence  of  its  spuriousness.  That  it  is  not  found  in  so  many  of 
the  early  MSS.  may  be  accounted  for  from  the  fear,  in  a  period  of  ascetic 
austerity,  that  it  might  be  understood  as  containing  a  licence  for  the  breach  of  the 
seventh  commandment.  [Augustine,  De  Conj.  Adult.,  ii.  7.]  The  evidence  for  the 
genuineness  of  the  passage  seems  to  outweigh  the  objections  to  it.  The  reason 
of  the  insertion  here  of  this  narrative  is  that  it  adds  another  to  those  "  signs  "  which 
it  was  John's  purpose  to  record,  showing  that  Jesus  was  the  Son  of  God,  the 
Saviour  of  the  world.  It  comes  in  most  naturally  as  following  the  account  of 
the  deep  impression  made  on  the  officers  of  the  Sanhedrin,  proving  that  the 
members  of  the  Sanhedrin  itself  could  not  stand  before  that  power  which  Jesus  had 
over  the  inmost  hearts  and  secret  consciences  of  men. 

4  They  were  probably  taking  the  woman  before  the  Sanhedrin,  which  held  its 


318  THE   LIFE   AND   WEITINGS   OP   ST.  JOHN. 

4  adultery ;  and  when  they  had  set  her  in  the  midst,  they  say 
unto  Him,  Master,1  this  woman  was  taken  in  adultery,  in  the 

5  very  act.     Now  Moses  in  the  law  commanded  us,  that  such 

6  should  be   stoned : 2  but  what  sayest  Thou  ?     This  they  said, 
tempting3  Him,  that  they  might  have  to  accuse  Him.     But  Jesus 
stooped 4  down,  and  with  His  finger  wrote  on  the  ground,  as 

7  though  He  heard  them  not.     So  when  they  continued  asking 
Him,  He  lifted  up  Himself,  and  said  unto  them,  He  that  is 

8  without5  sin  among  you,  let  him  first  cast  a  stone  at  her.     And 

9  again6  He  stooped  down,  and  wrote  on  the  ground.     And  they 
which  heard  it,  being  convicted  by  their  own  conscience/  went 
out  one  by  one,  beginning  at  the  eldest,  even  unto  the  last :  and 
Jesus  was  left  alone,  and  the  woman  standing  in  the  midst. 

10  When  Jesus  had  lifted  up   Himself,   and  saw  none  but  the 

sittings  in  one  of  the  halls  of  the  temple.  As  they  passed  by  Jesus  it  seems  to  have 
occurred  to  them  to  lay  the  case  before  Him  ;  hoping,  no  doubt,  that  they  might 
find  some  occasion  against  Him.  The  scene  was  in  the  porch  or  one  of  the  outer 
courts  of  the  temple. 

1  The  title  may  have  been  given  in  mockery,  as  if  this  was  the  kind  of  case  that 
should  be  submitted  to  Him,  or  as  a  sort  of  satire  on  those  who  called  Him 
"  Master." 

2  Lev.  xx.  10,  Deut.  xxii.  21. 

3  This  makes  it  evident  that  their  real  design  was  malevolent.     It  is  probable  they 
presumed  He  would  display  His  accustomed  mildness  and    compassion  towards 
sinners,  of  which  they  would  take  advantage,  on  account  of  the  strong  Jewish  feel- 
ing in  regard  to  this  crime,  to  awaken  popular  odium  against  Him. 

4  Stooping,  or  leaning  forward,  He  wrote  in  the  dust  on  the  marble  pavement  of 
the  court.     The  italicised  clause,  "  as  though  He  heard  them  not,"  is  a  comment  or 
gloss  of  the  translators.     The  significance  of  the  action  might  have  been  that,  what- 
ever His  decision  should  be,  it  would  be  of  no  more  account  with  them  than  words 
written  in  the  dust. 

5  Such  were  the  searching  words  addressed  to  the  party  having  the  woman  in 
charge,  with  which  He  broke  the  silence.     Those  who  had  brought  an  accusation  and 
appeared  as  witnesses,  according  to  the  Jewish  law  (Deut.  xvii.  7),  were  required 
when  sentence  had  been  passed  to  cast  the  first  stones.     He  who  knew  their  secret 
history  probably  knew  that  the  culprit  in  this  case  was  no  worse  than  her  accusers ; 
He  arraigns  them  at  the  bar  of  their  own  consciences. 

6  His  writing  now  seems  to  strike  terror  into  them,  as  if  that  finger  might  make 
revelations  or  carve  their  sins  in  the  marble  of  that  public  court. 

7  That  judge  of  right  and  wrong,  who  holds  his  court  in  every  man's  breast.    No 
sentence  of  an  earthly  court  can  so  make  a  man  tremble  as  when  conscience  pro- 
nounces him  guilty,  or  when  he  becomes  his  own  accuser.     Tholuck  says,  "  There 
is  evidence  that  at  this  period  many  of  the  rabbins,  high  in  position,  were  living  in 
adultery.      (Wagenseil  on  the  Sota,  p.  525  seq.  ;  Justin  Mart.,  Dial.  c.  Tryph,  p. 
363  ed.  Col.)     It  was  from  a  baseless  fear  that,  if  suffered  to  remain,  our  Saviour 
might  be  thought  to  have  compromised  with  this  sin,  or  at  least  to  have  treated  it 
as  a  comparatively  light  offence,  that  the  narrative  has  been  expunged  from  so  many 
of  the  early  MSS."     (See  J.  J.  Owen's  Commentary  in  loco.) 


ST.   JOHN   VIII.  319 

woman,    He  said  unto   her,  "Woman,  where   are   those   thine 

11  accusers  ?  hath  no  man  condemned  thee  ?     She  said,  No  man, 
Lord.     And  Jesus  said  unto  her,  Neither  do  I  condemn  thee  : 
go,  and  sin  l  no  more. 

19.  Christ  again  bears  testimony  to  His  exalted  dignity  and  Divinity. 

[Yer.  12-59. 

12  Then  spake  Jesus  again  unto  them,  saying,  I  am  the  light 2  of 
the  world  :  he  that  folio weth  Me  shall  not  walk  in  darkness,  but 

13  shall  have  the  light  of  life.     The  Pharisees  therefore  said  unto 
Him,  Thou  bearest  record  of  Thyself;  Thy  record  is  not  true. 

14  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  them,  Though  I  bear  record  of  My- 
self, yet  My  record  is  true :  for  I  know  whence  I  came,  and  whither 

15  I  go ;  but  ye  cannot  tell  whence  I  come,  and  whither  I  go.   Ye 
16 judge  after  the  flesh;  I  judge  no  man.     And  yet  if  I  judge, 

My  judgment  is  true ;    for  I  am  not  alone,3  but  I  and   the 

17  Father  that  sent  Me.     It  is  also  written  in  your  law,  that  the 

18  testimony  of  two  4  men  is  true.    I  am  one  that  bear  witness  of 
Myself,  and  the  Father  that  sent  Me  beareth  witness  of  Me. 

19 Then  said  they  unto  Him,  Where  is  Thy  Father?  Jesus  an- 
swered, Ye  neither  know  Me,  nor  My  Father :  if  ye  had  known 
20  Me,  ye  would  have  known  My  Father  also.     These  words  spake 

1  The  exhortation  to  penitence  lies  in  the"  Sin  no  more."     It  is  brief;  but  as 
Tholuck  suggests,  how  mightily  had  the  circumstances  spoken  !     Would  not  many 
words  have  weakened  rather  than  strengthened  the  impression  ? 

2  In  vii.  37  Christ  had  presented  Himself  under  the  figure  of  life-giving  water. 
He  here  presents  Himself  under  that  of  light.     It  was  early  in  the  morning  when 
He  came  into  the  temple.     The  sun  was  doubtless  flooding  the  porticoes  and  courts 
of  that  edifice  with  its  beams,  when  He  seized  upon  the  metaphor.    It  is  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  doctrines  established  by  modern  science  that  there  is  just  one  force 
operating  throughout  the  universe,  derived  almost  exclusively  from  the  sun,  which 
enters  into  the  life  of  both  animals  and  vegetables,  and  gives  the  power  that  sets 
our  machinery  agoing.     So  Christ  is  the  source  of  all  spiritual  life  and  activity : 
"Lumen  et  alia  demonstrat  et  seipsum.  Testimonium  sibi  perhibet  lux,  aperit  sanos 
oculos,  et  sibi  ipsa  testis  est."    (Augustine.)     "Light,  which  brings  other  things  to 
view,  brings  itself  to  view.   Light  furnishes  its  own  testimony,  opens  healthful  eyes, 
and  itself  is  a  witness  to  itself." 

8  He  introduces  His  own  testimony  for  the  sake  of  keeping  distinctly  in  view  His 
Divine  origin  and  mission.  But  while  He  was  one  with  the  Father  as  the  Son,  He 
was  distinct  from  the  Father,  and  therefore  in  the  wonderful  constitution  of  His 
person  as  Mediator  was  prepared  in  the  testimony  He  bore  to  meet  the  objections 
they  brought,  and  all  the  conditions  they  could  properly  demand  as  essential  to  the 
validity  of  such  testimony. 

4  Deut.  xvii.  6  and  xix.  15.  He  was  willing  to  accept  and  abide  by  this  principle 
or  law  of  evidence,  and  declares  who  the  two  witnesses  were  to  whom  He  appeals. 


320  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

Jesus  in  the  treasury/  as  He  taught  in  the  temple  :  and  no  man 

21  laid  hands  on  Him ;  for  His  hour  was  not  yet  come.  Then  said 
Jesus  again  unto  them,  I  go  My  way,  and  ye  shall  seek 2  Me, 

22  and  shall  die  in  your  sins  ;  whither  I  go,  ye  cannot  come.  Then 
said  the  Jews,  Will  He  kill  Himself  ?  because  He  saith,  Whither 

23 1  g0j  ye  cannot  come.     And  He  said  unto  them,  Ye  are  from 
beneath ;  I  am  from  above  :  ye  are  of  this  world ;  I  am  not  of 

24  this  world.     I  said  therefore  unto  you,  that  ye  shall  die  in  your 
sins  :  for  if  ye  believe  not  that  I  am  He,  ye  shall  die  in  your 

25  sins.     Then  said  they  unto  Him,  Who  art  Thou  ?    And  Jesus 
saith  unto  them,  Even  the  same  that  I  said  unto  you  from  the 

26  beginning.     I  have  many  3  things  to  say  and  to  judge  of  you  : 
but  He  that  sent  Me  is  true ;  and  I  s%peak  to  the  world  those 

27  things  which  I  have  heard  of  Him.     They  understood  not  that 

28  He  spake  to  them  of  the  Father.     Then  said  Jesus  unto  them, 
When  ye  have  lifted 4  up  the  Son  of  man,  then  shall  ye  know 
that  I  am  He,  and  that  I  do  nothing  of  Myself;  but  as  My 

29  Father  hath  taught  Me,  I  speak  these  things.     And  He  that 
sent  Me  is  with  Me :    the  Father  hath  not  left  Me  alone ;  for 

30 1  do  always  those  things  that  please  Him.     As  He  spake  these 

31  words,  many  believed 5  on  Him.     Then  said  Jesus  to  those  Jews 
which  believed  on  Him,  If  ye  continue  in  My  word,  then  are  ye 

32  My  disciples  indeed ;    and  ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the 

33  truth  shall  make  you  free.    They6  answered  Him,  We  be  Abra- 
ham's seed,  and  were  never  in  bondage  to  any  man  :  how  sayest 

1  This  discourse  was  delivered  in  the  most  frequented  part  of  the  temple,  the 
court  of  the  women,  where  the  treasure  chests  were  placed.     And  although  there 
was  a  concourse  there,  a  motley  crowd  of  men  and  women,  no  one  attempted  to  in- 
terfere with  Him. 

2  Their  seeking  would  be  "  for  and  from  necessity  "  as  Calvin  says,  without  faith, 
and  consequently  no  seeking  at  all.     They  would  die  in  their  a/j,aprla,  a  sin  of  un- 
belief.    It  was  their  rejection  of  Him,  or  their  refusal  to  believe  in  Him  as  the 
promised  Saviour,  which  made  it  certain  that  they  would  die  in  their  sins.     See 
verse  24. 

3  He  could  not  waste  time  in  a  mere  war  of  words,  and  fail  to  deliver  as  the 
Eevealer  of  truth  His  great  message  to  the  world. 

4  He  had  used  this  expression  before,  to  describe  the  manner  of  His  death  (John 
iii.  14),  although  it  is  hardly  probable  that  the  Jews  so  understood  Him. 

5  This  was  probably  a  true  faith,  and  not  a  mere  temporary  conviction ;  as  the 
Lord  immediately  addresses  them  as  if  they  were  true  believers. 

6  The  speakers  here  are  not  those  who  are  said  to  have  believed,  but  the  un- 
believers in  the  crowd,  the  same  persons  addressed  in  verses  21,  24.    What  had  been 
addressed  to  the  believers  was  a  mere  episode.     This  discourse  of  Christ  is  ad- 
dressed mainly  to  His  opponents. 


ST.    JOHN   VIII.  321 

34  Thou,  Ye  shall  be  made  free  ?     Jesus  answered  them,  Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  you,  Whosoever  committeth  sin  is  the  servant 

35  of  sin.    And  the  servant  abideth  not  in  the  house  for  ever  :  but 

36  the  son1  abideth  ever.     If  the  Son  therefore   shall  make  you 

37  free,  ye  shall  be  free  indeed.     I  know  that  ye  are  Abraham's 
seed ;  but  ye  seek  to  kill  Me,  because  My  word  hath  no  place 

38  in  you.     I  speak  that  which  I  have  seen  with  My  Father ;  and 

39  ye  do  that  which  ye  have   seen  with  your  father.    They  an- 
swered and  said  unto  Him,  Abraham  is  our  father.    Jesus  saith 
unto  them,  If  ye  were  Abraham's  children,2  ye  would  do  the 

40  works  of  Abraham.     But  now  ye  seek  to  kill  Me,  a  man  that 
hath  told  you  the  truth,  which  I  have  heard  of  God  :  this  did 

41  not  Abraham.    Ye  do  the  deeds  of  your  father.    Then  said  they, 
to  Him,  We  be  not  born  of  fornication  ;  we  have  one  Father, 

42  even  God.     Jesus  said  unto  them,  If  God  were  your  Father,  ye 
would  love  Me :    for  I  proceeded  forth  and  came  from  God ; 

43  neither  came  I  of  Myself,  but  He  sent  Me.     Why  do  ye  not 
understand  My  speech  ?  even  because  ye  cannot  hear  My  word. 

44  Ye  are  of  your  father  3  the  devil,  and  the  lusts  of  your  father 
ye  will  do  :  he  was  a  murderer  from  the  beginning,  and  abode 
not  in  the  truth,  because  there  is  no  truth  in  him.     When   he 
speaketh  a  lie,  he  speaketh  of  his  own :  for  he  is  a  liar  and  the 

45 father  of  it.     And  because4  I  tell  you  the  truth,  ye  believe  Me 

46  not.     Which  of  you  convinceth  Me  of  sin  ?     And  if  I  say  the 

47  truth,  why  do  ye  not  believe  Me  ?     He  that  is  of  God  heareth 
God's  words  :  ye  therefore  hear  them  not,  because  ye  are  not  of 

48  God.     Then  answered  the  Jews,  and  said  unto  Him,  Say  we  not 

49  well  that  Thou  art  a  Samaritan,  and  hast  a  devil  ?     Jesus  an- 

1  The  fact  that  they  were  Abraham's  seed  would  be  of  no  more  advantage  to  them, 
if  they  remained  the  slaves  of  sin,  than  it  proved  to  the  son  of  the  bondwoman  of 
old.    In  the  clause  "  the  son  abideth  ever,"  son  is  incorrectly  printed  with  a  capital, 
as  if  it  referred  to  the  Son  of  God,  whereas  it  clearly  stands  opposed  to  servant,  and 
is  put  for  the  heir  of  the  paternal  estate.    It  is  printed  with  a  capital  in  the  A.V. 
of  1611,  as  given  in  Bagster's  Hexapla,  and  also  in  the  Tauchnitz  edition  of  the 
New  Testament ;  but  the  clause  is  not  found  in  the  Sinaitic  MS. 

2  He  uses  the  term  "  Abraham's  children,"  as  Paul  afterwards  did  similar  terms, 
(Kom.  iv.  11,  ix.  8,)  in  its  spiritual  sense. 

3  He  did  not,  on  account  of  the  peril  in  which  He  stood,  abate  one  jot  or  tittle  of 
that  severe  rebuke  their  sins  deserved.     The  murder  in  their  hearts  proved  their 
real  paternity. 

4  They  were  so  fully  under  the  deceit  of  Satan,  inoculated  with  falsehood,  that 
the  Saviour  tells  them  that  the  very  reason  why  they  did  not  believe  in  Him  was 
because  He  told  them  the  truth. 


322  THE    LIFE   AND   WEITINGS   OF    ST.  JOHN. 

swered,  I  have  not  a  devil ;  but  I  honour  My  Father,  and  ye  do 

50  dishonour  Me.     And  I  seek  not  Mine  own  glory  :  there  is  One 

51  that  seeketh  and  judgeth.     Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  If  a 

52  man  keep  My  saying,  he  shall  never  see  death.1     Then  said  the 
Jews  unto  Him,  Now  we  know  that  Thou  hast  a  devil.     Abra- 
ham is  dead,  and  the  prophets ;  and  Thou  sayest,   If  a  man 

53  keep  My  saying,  he  shall  never  taste    of    death.     Art    Thou 
greater  than  our  father   Abraham,  which  is    dead?    and    the 

54  prophets  are  dead ;  whom  makest  Thou  Thyself  ?     Jesus  an- 
swered, If  I  honour  Myself,  My  honour  is  nothing :  it  is  My 
Father  that  honoureth  Me;  of  whom  ye  say,  that  He  is  your 

55  God  :  yet  ye  have  not  known  Him ;  but  I  know  Him  :  and  if  I 
should  say,  I  know  Him  not,  I  shall  be  a  liar  like  unto  you  :  but  I 

56  know  Him,  and  keep  His  saying.  Your  father  Abraham  rejoiced 2 

57  to  see  My  day :  and  he  saw  it,  and  was  glad.     Then  said  the 
Jews  unto  Him,  Thou  art  not  yet  fifty  years  old,  and  hast  Thou 

58  seen  Abraham  ?     Jesus  said  unto  them,  Verily,  verily,  I  say 

59  unto  you,  Before  3  Abraham  was,  I  am.     Then  took  they  up 
stones  to  cast  at  Him  :  but  Jesus  hid  Himself,  and  went  out  of 
the  temple,  going  through  the  midst  of  them,  and  so  passed 

by- 

20.  The  Messiahship  of  Jesus  proved  by  a  miracle  established  by  testi- 
mony elicited  after  the  most  rigid  scrutiny,  by  His  enemies  sitting  in  a 
judicial  capacity. 
IX.]  [Ver.  1-41. 

1  And  as  Jesus  passed  *  by,  He  saw  a  man  which  was  blind  from 

2  his  birth.     And  His  disciples  asked  Him,  saying,  Master,  who 

1  He  once  more  proclaims  salvation  to  these  rebellious  sinners. 

2  He  not  only  rejoiced  that  he  should  see  it,  but  he  saw  it.    He  saw  it  by  the  eye 
of  faith  ;  he  so  believed  in  Christ  that  he  never  tasted  of  death,  and  was  net  dead 
in  the  sense  in  which  Christ  spoke  of  death. 

3  These  words  cannot  possibly  be  made  to  mean  less  than  that  Jesus  existed 
before  Abraham. 

4  The  unbelieving  Jews  became  so  enraged  by  the  discourses  recorded  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapter,  that  we  are  told  they  took  up  "  stones  to  cast  at  Him;  but  Jesus 
hid  Himself  and  went  out  of  the  temple,  going  through  the  midst  of  them,  and  so 
passed  by."     In  the  beginning  of  this  we  clearly  have  a  resumption  or  continuation 
of  the    narrative.     With  Stier  and  Olshausen  we  must  regard  the  event  recorded 
here  as  having  occurred  on  the  same  day  the  above  discourses  were  delivered. 
There  is  no  reason  for  inserting,  as  Bobinson  does,  in  his  Harmony,  between  the 
discourses  in  chapter  viii.  and  the  miracle  of  chapter  ix.,  the  "lawyer  instructed," 
and  the  parable  of  the  good  Samaritan,  and  especially  such  an  event  as  the  "  return 


Copied  by  permission  Jroni  a  photograph  take>i  by  !•    I'  KITH. 
POOL   OF   SILOAM. 


ST.    JOHN    IX.  323 

3  did  sin,1  this  man,  or  his  parents,  that  he  was  born  blind  ?  Jesus 
answered,  Neither  hath  this  man  sinned,  nor  his  parents  :  but 

4  that  the  works  2  of  God  should  be  made  manifest  in  him.     I 
must  work  the   works  of  Him  that  sent  Me,  while  it  is  day  :  the 

5  night  cometh,  when  no  man  can  work .     As  long  as  I  am  in  the 

6  world,  I  am  the  light    of  the    world.     When   He   had   thus 
spoken,  He  spat 3  on  the  ground,  and  made  clay  of  the  spittle, 

7  and  He  anointed  the  eyes  of  the  blind  man  with  the  clay,  and 
said  unto  him,  Go,  wash  in  the  pool  of  Siloam  (which  is  by  in- 
terpretation, Sent) .     He  went  his  way  therefore,  and  washed, 

8  and  came  seeing.     The  neighbours  therefore,  and  they  which 
before  had  seen  him  that  he  was  blind,  said,  Is  not  this  he  that 

9  sat  and  begged  ?     Some  said,  This  is  he  :  others  said,  He  is 

10  like  him  :  but  he  said,  I  am  he.     Therefore  said  they  unto  him, 

11  How  were  thine  eyes  opened  ?      He  answered  and  said,  A  man 
that  is  called  Jesus  made  clay,  and  anointed  mine  eyes,  and 
said  unto  me,  Go  to  the  pool  of  Siloam,  and  wash  :  and  I  went 

L2  and  washed,  and  I  received  sight.     Then  said  they  unto  him, 
13  Where  is  He  ?     He  said  I  know  4  not.      They  brought  to  the 

of  the  seventy,"  which  clearly  belongs  to  the  ministry  in  Galilee,  before  this  visit 
to  Jerusalem  at  the  festival  of  tabernacles. 

1  This  question  would  seem  to  have  been  founded    on  what  appears  to   have 
been  at  that  time  the  popular  belief,  that  such  a  calamity  as  natal  blindness  was  a 
special  visitation  or  judgment  for  some  sin  in  parents  or  ancestors,  or  guilt  which 
had  been  inherited. 

2  He  told  them  that  his  blindness  was  not  to  be  attributed  to  any  such  cause  as 
their  question  supposed ;  but  that  it  was  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  Him  who 
knoweth  the  end  from  the  beginning,  that  "  the  works  of  God  should  be  made 
manifest  in  him."     The  Saviour  does  not  say  work  but  works,  thus  recognising  the 
twofold  or  double  nature  of  the  work  that  was  about  to  be  wrought  for  the  benefit 
of  the  soul,  as  well  as  the  body,  of  the  blind  man. 

3  Some  of  the  miracles  of  our  Lord  were  performed  by  His  simple  word  ;  others 
by  what  seemed  to  be  the  use,  or  the  imitation  of  the  use,  of  means.     He  puts  the 
highest  honour  upon  the  use  of  means,  exalts  them  to  such  a  place  of  importance, 
in  the  performance  of  some  of  His  most  miraculous  works,  that  they  may  never  be 
despised  or  undervalued  by  His  servants.     The  pool  of  Siloam  is  in  the  mouth  of 
the  valley  of  the  Tyropoeon  or  cheesemakers.  and  is  known  by  this  name  to  this 
day.     It  is  connected  by  a  passage,  under  the  hill  Ophel.  with  the  pool  of  Bethesda, 
where  the  impotent  man  was  healed,  now  known  as  the  fountain  of  the  Virgin. 

4  Our  Saviour  passed  on  without  waiting  for  the  return  of  the  man  from  the  pool ; 
and  we  are  to  bear  in  mind,  as  we  go  on  with  the  account  and  find  him  defending 
the  Saviour  with  so  much  effect,  in  the  presence  of  the  Pharisees,  that  he  had  not 
yet  seen  Hun.     He  gave  to  the  neighbours,  and  those  who  had  often  seen  him  in 
his  blindness,  an  exact  account  of  the  miracle,  leaving  out  no  particular,  telling 
them  that  it  was  Jesus  who  had  directed  him  what  to  do.      And  thus  ended  what 
may  be  termed  the  preliminary  examination,  before  his  old  neighbours,  who  were 
perfectly  assured  of  his  identity. 


324  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF   ST.  JOHN. 

14  Pharisees   him  that  aforetime  was    blind.      And   it   was   the 
sabbath  day  when  Jesus  made  the  clay,  and  opened  his  eyes. 

15  Then  again  the  Pharisees  also  asked  him  how  he  had  received 
his  sight.    He  said  unto  them,  He  put  clay  upon  mine  eyes,  and 

16 1  washed,  and  do  see.  Therefore  said  some  of  the  Pharisees,1 
This  man  is  not  of  God,  because  He  keepeth  not  the  sabbath  2 
day.  Others  said,  How  can  a  man  that  is  a  sinner  do  such 

17  miracles  ?     And  there  was  a  division  among  them.       They  say 
unto  the  blind  man  again,  What   sayest  thou  of   Him,  that  He 

18  hath  opened  thine  eyes  ?     He  said,  He  is  a  prophet.      But  the 
Jews  did  not  believe  concerning  him,  that  he  had  been  blind, 
and  received  his  sight,  until  they  called  the  parents  3  of  him  that 

19  had  received  his  sight.      And  they  asked  them,  saying,  Is  this 
your  son,  who  ye  say  was  born  blind  ?  how  then  doth  he  now 

20  see  ?     His  parents  answered  them  and  said,  We  know  that  this 

21  is  our  son,  and  that  he  was  born  blind  :  but  by  what  means  he 
now  seeth,  we  know  not ;  or  who  hath  opened  his  eyes,  we  know 

22  not :  he  is  of  age;  ask  him  :  he  shall  speak  for  himself.     These 
words  spake  his  parents,  because  they  feared  the  Jews :  for  the 
Jews  had  agreed  already,  that  if  any  man  did  confess  that  He 

23  was  Christ,  he  should  be  put  out  of  the  synagogue.      Therefore 

24  said  his  parents,  He  is  of  age;  ask  him.     Then  again  called  they 
the  man  that  was  blind,  and  said  unto  him,  Give  God  the  praise: 

25  we  know  that  this  man  is  a   sinner.     He  answered  and  said, 

1  It  was  not,  we  may  fairly  presume,  on  account  of  any  hostility  to  him  that  the 
case  was  reported  to  the  Pharisees,  but  on  account  of  the  astonishing  character  of 
the  event.     From  the  formality  of  the  investigation  it  is  probable  it  was  the  San- 
hedrin  before  whom  the  matter  was  brought ;  not  on  the  same  day  that  the  miracle 
was  performed,  which  was  the  sabbath,  but  the  following  day  or  very  shortly  after. 
He  gave  the  same  account  to  them  of  his  healing  which  he  had  before  given  to  the 
neighbours. 

2  Some  of  the  Sanhedrin  were  disposed  to  proceed  no  further,  or  to  make  no  other 
use  of  the  case  than  to  find  in  it  additional  evidence  that  Jesus  was  not  of  God, 
because  according   to  their  interpretation  He  had  violated  the   sabbath.      How 
utterly  blinding  and  perversive  must  have  been  the   doctrines  and  traditions  of 
Phariseeism  !     But  there  was  another  class,  men  of  the  Nicodemus  stamp,  whom 
the  prejudices  of  sect  and  party  could  not  so  thoroughly  pervert.      The  division 
among  them  led  them  to  turn  again  to  the  blind  man  and  ask  his  opinion.     He 
promptly  professed  his  faith  in  Him  as  a  prophet. 

3  The  case  is  next  made  to  turn  on  an  attempt  to  prove  the  blind  man  an  impostor. 
The  parents  must  be  found;   they  are  closely  questioned.     We  notice  in  these 
plain  people  the  same  intellectual  shrewdness  we  notice  in  their  son,  and  also  their 
confidence  in  him  to  take  care  of  himself,  in  responding  to  any  questions  the  court 
might  propose. 


ST.    JOHN    IX.  325 

Whether  He  be  a  sinner  or  no,  I  know  not :  one  thing  I  know/ 

26  that,  whereas  I  was  blind,  now  I  see.     Then  said  they  to  him 
again,  What   did   He  to  thee  ?    how  opened   He  thine  eyes  ? 

27  He  answered  them,  I  have  told  you  already,  and  ye  did  not 
hear :  wherefore  would  ye  hear  it  again  ?  will  ye  also  be  His 

28  disciples  ?     Then  they  reviled  him,  and  said,  Thou  art  His  dis- 

29  ciple ;  but  we  are  Moses'  disciples.     We  know  that  God  spake 
unto  Moses  :  as  for  this  fellow,  we  know  not  from  whence  He 

30  is.     The  man  answered  and  said  unto  them,  Why  herein  is  a 
marvellous  thing,  that  ye  know  not  from  whence  He  is,  and  yet 

31  He  hath  opened  mine  eyes.     Now  we  know  that  God  heareth 
not  sinners  :  but  if  any  man  be  a  worshipper  of  God,  and  doeth 

32  His  will,  him  He  heareth.      Since  the  world  began  was  it  not 
heard  that  any  man  opened  the  eyes  of  one  that   was   born 

33  blind.     If  this  man  were  not  of  God,  He  could  do  nothing.2 

34  They  answered  and  said  unto  him,  Thou  wast  altogether  born 
in  sins,  and  dost  thou  teach  us  ?      And   they  cast  him  out. 

35  Jesus  heard  that  they  had  cast  him  out ;  and   when   He  had 
found 3  him,  He  said  unto  him,  Dost  thou  believe  on  the  Son  of 

36  God  ?     He  answered  and  said,  Who  is  He,  Lord,  that  I  might 

37  believe  on  Him  ?     And  Jesus  said  unto  him,  Thou  hast  both  seen 

38  Him,  and  it  is  He  that  talketh  with  thee.       And  he  said,  Lord, 

39  I   believe.      And  he  worshipped  Him.     And   Jesus  said,  For 
judgment  I  am  come  into  this  world,  that  they  which  see  not 
might  see;  and  that  they  which  see  might   be   made  blind. 

40  And  some  of  the  Pharisees  which  were  with  Him  heard  these 

1  It  has  been  often  noticed  how  the  loss  of  sight  seems  to  render  more  acute  the 
other  senses.     Does  it  not  also  tend,  and  for  much  the  same  reason,  to  improve  the 
mental  faculties,  by  leading  those  who  suffer  in  this  way  to  cultivate  that  power 
of  attention  upon  which  it  is  said  intellectual  superiority  depends  more  than  upon 
any  other  one  thing  ?     The  Pharisees  appear  to  no  good  advantage  in  their  debate 
with  him  who  was  born  blind ;  they  appear  as  mere  novices  in  his  hand.      There 
was  one  great  fact  out  of  which  they  could  not  argue  him  ;  he  had  seen  the  sun  and 
the  earth,  he  had  seen  the  face  of  parents,  perhaps  of  wife  and  child.      So  there  is 
one  great  fact  out  of  which  the  acutest  dialecticians  cannot  argue  the  simplest  and 
most  unlettered  believer. 

2  Never  was  the  argument  from  miracles  for  the  Divine  mission  and  authority  of 
Jesus  more  logically  or  forcibly  stated.     They  met  his  calm,  conclusive  statement 
with  anger,  and  carried  the  sentence  of  excommunication  against  him  into  effect. 

3  Jesus  heard  what  had  taken  place,  and  searched  for  him  who  had  consented  to 
endure  reviling  and  excommunication  for  His  sake,  that  He  might  perform  or  com- 
plete another  work  in  him  more  important  than  the  removal  of  physical  blindness. 
The  one  work  prepared  the  way  for  the  other.     His  experience  heightened  his 
tendency  to  faith. 


THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF   ST.  JOHN. 

41  words,  and  said  unto  Him,  Are  we  blind  also  ?  Jesus  said  unto 
them,  If  ye  were  blind,  ye  should  have  no  sin  :  but  now  ye  say, 
We  see  j  therefore  your  sin  remaineth. 

21.   The  character    of  Christ  (the  Good  Shepherd)    a  proof   of   His 

Messiahship. 
X.]  [Ver.  1-21. 

1  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  He  that  entereth  not  by  the  door 
into  the  sheepfold,  but  climbeth  up  some  other  way,  the  same  is 

2  a  thief  and  a  robber.     But  he  that  entereth  in  by  the  door  is 

3  the  shepherd 1  of  the  sheep.     To  him  the  porter  openeth ;  and 
the  sheep  hear  his  voice  :  and  he  calleth  his  own2  sheep  by 

4  name,  and  leadeth  them  out.     And  when  he  putteth  forth  his 
own  sheep,  he  goeth  before  them,  and  the  sheep  follow  him  : 

5  for  they  know  his  voice.     And  a  stranger  will  they  not  follow, 
but  will  flee  from  him ;  for  they  know  not  the  voice  of  strangers: 

6  This  parable  spake  Jesus  unto  them ;  but  they  understood  not 

7  what  things  they  were  which  He  spake  unto  them.     Then  said 
Jesus  unto  them  again,  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  I  am  the 

8  door  of  the  sheep.   All  that  ever  came  before  Me  are  thieves3  and 

9  robbers  :  but  the  sheep  did  not  hear  them.     I  am  the  door  :  by 
Me  if  any  man  enter  in,  he  shall  be  saved,  and  shall  go  in  and 

10  out,4  and  find  pasture.     The  thief  cometh  not,  but  for  to  steal, 

1  In  contrast  with  such  false  and  hypocritical  guides  as  the  Pharisees,  Christ  is 
here  presented  to  us  in  His  spotless,  tender,  self  sacrificing  character,  as  the  Saviour 
of  sinners.     In  the  first  five  verses  we  have  the  "  parable  "  without  any  mention  of 
the  Saviour  Himself,  or  the  truths  it  was  intended  to  illustrate.      It  was  founded 
upon  what  was  familiar  to  them  all,  or  what  might  be  seen  any  day  beyond  the  walls 
of  Jerusalem,  in  the  rural  districts.     Eev.  W.  M.  Thomson  gives  an  interesting  and 
graphic  description  of  sheepfolds  and  shepherds  with  their  flocks ;  see  Land  and 
Book,  vol.  i.,  pp.  299-302. 

2  The  fold  signifies  the  spiritual  kingdom  of  God ;  not  the  visible  church,  in  which 
there  is  a  commingling  of  the  bad  with  the  good.     "  The  sheep  throughout  this 
parable  are  not  the  mingled  multitude  of  good  and  bad ;  but  the  real  sheep,  the 
faithful,  who  are  what  all  in  the  fold  should  be."     (Alford.) 

3  All  that  ever  came  assuming  the  office  of  Messiah,  or  all  like  the  Pharisees  who 
assumed  to  be  the  only  depositaries  of  the  way  of  life,  are  doubtless  included.  What 
we  are  to  understand  by  the  door,  and  what  by  the  wolf  or  robber  prowling  about 
the  fold,  and  what  by  the  fold,  we  are  thus  given  plainly  to  understand.     The  main 
point  in  the  parable  is  not  the  character  of  the  flock  or  the  true  people  of  Christ, 
but  the  glorious  character  of  the  Shepherd  who  watches  over  the  safety  of  the  sheep, 
in  contrast  with  the  false  teachers  and  misleading  guides  of  the  people.     There  is  all 
the  difference  between  them  and  Him  which  there  is  between  the  shepherd  and  the 
thieves  and  robbers,  who  come  to  steal  and  to  kill  and  to  destroy. 

4  The  walls  and  bulwarks,  by  which  they  were  surrounded,  not  only  constitute 


ST.   JOHN   X.  327 

and  to  kill,  and  to  destroy  :  I  am  come  that  they  might  have 
LI  life,  and  that  they  might  have  it  more  abundantly.  I  am  the 

good1  shepherd:  the  good  shepherd  giveth  His  life  for  the 
12  sheep.  But  he  that  is  a  hireling/  and  not  the  shepherd,  whose 

own  the  sheep  are  not,  seeth  the  wolf  coming,  and  leaveth  the 

sheep,  and  fleeth ;  and  the  wolf  catcheth  them,  and  scattefeth 
1-3  the  sheep.  The  hireling  fleeth,  because  he  is  a  hireling,  and 
14 care th  not  for  the  sheep.  I  am  the  good  shepherd,  and  know3 

15  My  sheep,  and  am  known  of  Mine.     As  the  Father  knoweth 
Me,  even  so  know  I  the  Father :  and  I  lay  down  My  life  for 

16  the  sheep.     And  other  4  sheep  I  have,  which  are  not  of  this 
fold  :  them  also  I  must  bring,  and  they  shall  hear  My  voice ; 

17  and  there  shall  be  one  fold,  and  one  shepherd.     Therefore  doth 
My  Father  love  Me,  because  I  lay  down  My  life,  that  I  might 

18  take  it  again.     No  man  taketh5  it  from  Me,  but  I  lay  it  down 
of  Myself.     I  have  power  to  lay  it  down,  and  I  have  power  to 
take  it  again.    This  commandment  have  I  received  of  My  Father. 

19  There  was  a  division  therefore  again  among  the  Jews  for  these 

20  sayings.     And  many  of  them  said,  He  hath  a  devil,  and  is 

their  safety  but  ensure  their  liberty.  "  The  salvation  to  which  Christ  admits  His 
people  is  not  a  bondage,  but  a  deliverance  from  bondage."  (Drummond  on  the 
Parables,  Amer.  edit.,  p.  88.) 

1  The  twofold  reference  which  Jesus  makes  in  speaking  of  Himself  as  the  door, 
and  then  immediately  as  the  shepherd,  entirely  disappears  if  we  keep  in  view  the 
twofold  relation  involved  in  the  character  of  Christ.     As  mediator  between  God  and 
man,  He  is  the  door :  as  prophet  or  teacher,  which  is  one  of  His  great  offices,  He  is 
the  Good  Shepherd.    It  is  as  the  Good  Shepherd  He  is  brought  before  us  in  that 
wonderful  character  which,  the  more  it  is  studied,  the  more  it  excites  admiration, 
and  is  one  of  the  best  arguments  to  prove  He  was  Divine. 

"  There  has  one  Object  been  disclosed  on  earth, 

That  might  command  the  place." 

It  is  the  sight  of  Christ  as  a  sufferer,  coming  that  by  His  blood  sin  might  be 
washed  away,  which  suffuses  His  character  with  its  purest  brightness  and  highest 
glory. 

2  The  hireling  represents  the  servants  or  under  shepherds  who  serve  merely  for 
wages,  and  have  no  care  or  real  love  for  the  flock.     The  hirelings,  and  thieves  and 
robbers  constitute  the  background  on  which  the  picture  of  Christ's  character  in  all 
its  loveliness  and  beauty  is  projected. 

3  "  There  is  between  Christ  and  the  believer  a  mutual  knowledge,  founded  upon 
love,  such  in  kind  as  subsists  between  Him  and  the  Father,  although,  as  far  as  the 
believer  is  concerned,  infinitely  less  perfect."     (Dr.  J.  J.  Owen^Comm.) 

4  This  must  mean  those  to  be  gathered  from  among  the  Gentiles.     There  is  but 
one  church  on  earth  and  in  heaven. 

5  Christ  claimed  inherent  and  underived  authority  or  power,  ^ova-lav,  over  His 
own  life  ;  to  lay  it  down,  or  take  it  again  at  His  pleasure.     It  was  His  voluntariness 
in  laying  it  down  which  rendered  the  sacrifice  so  acceptable. 


328  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OP   ST.  JOHN. 

21  mad ;    why   hear   ye  Him  ?     Others  said,   These  are   not  the 
words  of  him  that  hath  a  devil.     Can  a  devil  open  the  eyes  of 
the  blind  ? 

22.  Jesus  declares  His  Messiahship,    distinctly   claiming  equality   with 

the  Father. 

[Ver.  22-42. 

22  And  it  was  at  Jerusalem  the  feast  of  the  dedication,1  and  it  was 

23  winter.2     And  Jesus  walked  in  the  temple  in  Solomon's  porch. 

24  Then  came  the  Jews3  round  about  Him,  and  said  unto  Him, 
How  long  dost  Thou  make  us  to  doubt  ?     If  Thou  be  the  Christ, 

25  tell  us  plainly.     Jesus  answered  them,   I  told4  you,  and   ye 
believed  not :  the  works  that  I  do  in  My  Father's  name,  they 

26  bear  witness  of  Me.     But  ye  believe  not,  because  ye  are  not 

27  of  My  sheep,5  as  I  said  unto  you.     My  sheep  hear  My  voice, 

28  and   I  know    them,  and    they  follow  Me  :    and  I    give  unto 
them  eternal  life ;  and  they  shall  never  perish,  neither  shall 

29  any  man  pluck6  them  out  of  My  hand.     My  Father,  which 
gave  them  Me,  is   greater   than  all ;  and  no  man  is  able  to 

1  The  only  time  this  feast  is  mentioned.    It  was  established  by  Judas  Maccabasus 
in  commemoration  of  the  purification  and  reconsecration  of  the  temple  after  its 
profanation  by  Antiochus  Epiphanes.     It  was  held  in  December,  beginning  with  the 
25th  day  of  the  Jewish  month  Chisleu,  and  continued  eight  days.     (1  Mac.  iv.  2  ;  2 
Mac.  i. ;  Josephus,  Ant.  xii.  7,  6,  7.)    There  was  therefore  an  interval  of  two  months 
between  the  feast  of  tabernacles,  at  which  the  events  and  discourses  beginning  at 
chapter  vii.  occurred,  and  this  feast  of  dedication.     It  is  not  certainly  known  where 
our  Lord  spent  this  interval;  but  as  no  intimation  is  given  of  any  journey  it  is 
probable  He  passed  it  at  or  in  the  vicinity  of  Jerusalem.      Several  things  are 
recorded  by  the  other  evangelists,  which  may  very  naturally  be  referred  to  this  time  : 
His  interview  with  the  lawyer  who  asked,  "  What  shall  I  do  that  I  may  inherit  eternal 
life?  "  and  to  whom  He. addressed  the  parable  of  the  good  Samaritan;  His  visit  at 
Bethany,  where  He  received  the  complaint  of  the  painstaking  Martha  against  Mary 
(Luke  x.  38-42) ;  it  was  in  the  vicinity  of  Jerusalem  He  gave  the  instructions  on 
prayer,  Luke  xi.  1-13.     Thus  occupied,  He  had  been  brought  two  months  nearer 
the  passover  at  which  He  was  to  suffer. 

2  Or  the  season  of  cold  and  rain,  and  Jesus  ceased  from  excursions  into  the 
country,  and  walked  in  the  temple  in  Solomon's  porch,  a  lofty  covered  colonnade, 
rising  above  the  valley  of  the  Kedron. 

3  By  the  term  Jews  he  designates  the  enemies  of  Christ,  a  very  natural  expression 
for  him  to  use,  writing  so  long  after  they  had  been  dispersed. 

4  He  refers  doubtless  to  the  very  plain  manner  in  which  He  had  told  them  at 
the  feast  of  tabernacles,  and  at  former  periods. 

5  He  reverts  to  the  similitude  He  had  employed,  verse  14.     The  unbelief  of  the 
Pharisees  did  not  throw  the  least  doubt  or  discredit  on  the  claims  of  Jesus  that  He 
was  the  Christ.     Unbelief  that  disregards  such  evidence  only  the  more  exhibits 
and  demonstrates  the  sad  moral  state  of  those  who  cherish  it. 

6  These  are  claims  that  could  be  set  up  only  by  the  Divine  Son  of  God. 


ST.    JOHN    X.  329 

30  pluck  them  out  of  My  Father's  hand.     I  and  My  Father  are 

31  one.1     Then  the  Jews  took  up  stones 2  again  to  stone  Him. 

32  Jesus  answered  them,  Many  good  works  have  I  showed  you 
from   My  Father ;  for  which  of  those  works  do  ye  stone  Me  ? 

33  The  Jews  answered  Him,  saying,  For  a  good  work  we  stone 
Thee  not;  but  for  blasphemy;  and  because  that  Thou,  being  a 

34  man,  makest  Thyself  God.3     Jesus  answered  them,  Is  it  not 

35  written  in  your  law,  I  said,  Ye  are  gods  ?  4     If  He  called  them 
gods,  unto  whom  the   word  of  God  came,  and  the  Scripture 

36  cannot  be  broken;    say  ye  of    Him,   whom  the  Father  hath 
sanctified,  and  sent  into  the  world,  Thou  blasphemest ;  because 

37 1  said,  I  am  the  Son  of  God  ?     If  I  do  not  the  works 5  of  My 

38  Father,  believe  Me  not.     But  if  I  do,  though  ye  believe  not  Me, 
believe  the  works ;  that  ye  may  know,  and  believe,  that  the 

39  Father  is  in  Me,  and  I  in  Him.     Therefore  they  sought  again 

40  to  take  Him ;  but  He  escaped 6  out  of  their  hand,  and  went 
away  again  beyond  Jordan  into  the  place  where  John  at  first 

41  baptized ;  and  there  He  abode.     And  many  resorted  unto  Him, 
and  said,  John  did  no  miracle :  but  all  things  that  John  spake 

42  of  this  man  were  true.     And  many 7  believed  on  Him  there. 

1  They  are  one  in  giving  eternal  life,  and  in  keeping  those  to  whom  it  has  been 
given.     The  same  agency  is  ascribed  to  the  Father  and  the  Son.     This  unity  of 
power  involves  unity  of  purpose  and  unity  of  being  and  essence.      "  The  numeral 
one  is  thl  Greek  neuter,  the  idea  of  essence  and  not  of  personality  being  predomi- 
nant."    (Dr.  J.  J.  Owen's  Commentary  in  loco.) 

2  As  they  had  done  on  a  former  occasion  ;  chap.  viii.  59.      Our  Lord,  on  this 
occasion,  appears  to  have  looked  calmly  upon  them  and  restrained  them,  appealing 
again  to  His  works  in  vindication  of  the  exalted  claim  He  had  just  made. 

3  This  shows  how  the  Jews  understood  His  language,  that  He  claimed  to  be 
God.     He  did  not  reply  as  if  they  had  misunderstood  Him,  or  attempt  to  correct 
their  mistake  ;  but  His  whole  reply  goes  upon  the  assumption  that  they  had  under- 
stood Him  aright,  and  that  it  was  no  blasphemy  for  Him  to  claim  equality  and  one- 
ness with  God. 

4  The  passage  is  in  Psalm  Ixxxii.  6.    He  abates  not  one  iota  of  His  claims,  but 
again  asserts  His  Divinity  in  the  most  unmistakable  terms. 

5  He  was  wilhng  to  be  tried  by  this  test.   If  His  works  were  not  the  works  of  God, 
then  they  might  reject  Him;  but  if  they  were,  then  He  demanded  that,  like  honest 
men,  they  should  accept  the  proof  these  works  afforded  that  He  was  Messiah. 

6  On  a  former  occasion  He  had  evaded  them,  as  His  time  was  not  yet  come.     He 
left  Judsea,  and  went  beyond  Jordan,  or  to  the  east  of  that  river,  into  Peraa,  to 
Bethabara  or  Bethany,   where  John  had  baptized,  and  where  He  Himself  was 
baptized.     He  did  not  return  again  to  Jerusalem  till  a  few  days  before  His  crucifixion. 
At  the  summons  of  Mary  and  Martha  He  came  once  as  near  as  Bethany,  where  He 
raised  Lazarus,  but  immediately  withdrew  again  into  retirement. 

7  His  rejection  and  persecution    by    the  Pharisees  did  not  hinder  them  from 
believing  in  Him. 


•330  THE    LIFE    AND    WAITINGS    OP    ST.  JOHN. 


23.     The  miracle  of  the  resurrection  of  Lazarus  an  illustrious  proof  of 

the  Messiahship  of  Jesus. 

XL]  [Ver.  1-54. 

Now !  a  certain  man  was  sick,  named  Lazarus,  of  Bethany, 2 

2  the  town  of  Mary  and  her  sister  Martha.     (It  was  that  Mary 3 
which  anointed  the  Lord  with  ointment,  and  wiped  His  feet 

3  with  her  hair,  whose  brother  Lazarus  was   sick.)     Therefore 
his  sisters  sent  unto  Him,  saying.  Lord,  behold,  he  whom  Thou 

4  lovest 4  is  sick.     When  Jesus  heard  that,  He  said,  This  sickness  5 
is  not  unto  death,  but  for  the  glory  of  God,  that  the  Son  of  God 

5  might  be  glorified  thereby.     Now  Jesus  loved  Martha,  and  her 

6  sister,  and  Lazarus.     When  He  had  heard  therefore  that  he  was 
sick,  He  abode  two 6  days  still  in  the  same  place  where  He  was. 

7  Then  after  that  saith  He  to  His  disciples,  Let  us  go  into  Judaea 

1  This  account  is  found  in  John  alone,  and  is  well  suited  to  his  great  theme,  that 
Christ  is  the  Life  as  well  as  the  Light  of  the  world,  that,  as  He  can  overcome  death 
in  a  buried,  putrefying  body,  so  He  can  overcome  it  in  the  souls  of  those  dead  in 
trespasses  and  sins.     The  sickness  and  death  of  Lazarus  preface  the  narrative 
of  the  last  sufferings  of  Christ ;  and  what  more  suitable  introduction  could  there  be 
to  this  narrative  than  an  account  which  so  beautifully  exemplifies  His  love  for  those 
He  came  to  save  ? 

2  Bethany  was  a  village  less  than  two  miles  distant  from  Jerusalem,  on  the  eastern 
slope  of  the  mount  of  Olives. 

3  John  here  alludes  to  an  incident  which  was  subsequent  in  time  to  the  (feath  and 
resurrection  of  Lazarus,  one  which  is  recorded  by  both  Matthew  and  Mark,  and  by 
John  himself  in  the  next  chapter.   It  is  mentioned  here  for  purposes  of  identification 
of  the  family  in  which  the  miracle  was  performed,  as  Christ  had  received  anointing 
from  the  hands  of  another  woman,  (Luke  vii.  37,  38,)  or  for  the  better  appreciation 
of  the  pious  act  when  it  should  come  to  be  recorded  in  its  true  historical  place. 
It  had  made  the  name  of  this  Mary  well  known  throughout  the  early  church, 
according  to  the  words  of  the  Lord,  Matt.  xxvi.  13. 

4  The  family  of  Bethany,  although  differing  in  their  individual  traits  of  character, 
were  all  alike  devoted  in  affection  to  Jesus,  and  were  all  in  turn  beloved  by  Him : 
see  verse  5. 

5  The  words  "  this  sickness  is  not  unto  death  "  were  intended  to  exclude  not  the 
idea  of  dying,  but  of  abiding  or  permanent  death  ;  they  were  spoken  with  reference 
to  the  resurrection  which  He  knew  would  be  accomplished  by  Him.     The  dying 
was  to  prove  a  means  to  the  glory  of  God,  or  the  glory  of  the  Son  of  God.     The 
record  of  the  miracle  and  words  of  Christ,  on  this  occasion,  was  to  be  for  the 
instruction  and  consolation  of  believers  to  the  end  of  the  world.     Jesus  was  to 
demonstrate  His  power  as  the  Son  of  God  by  His  power  over  death  and  the  grave. 
Lazarus  was  already  dead  when  the  messengers  returned  with  the  answer  of  Jesus 
that  his  sickness  would  not  issue  in  death.     Even  this  did  not  shake  the  confidence 
of  the  sisters,  for  they  knew  that  whatsoever  He  might  ask  of  God,  God  would  give 
it  unto  Him :  verse  22. 

6  He  had  retired  to  Peraaa  because  of  the  opposition  and  hostility  of  the  Jews, 


ST.    JOHN"    XI.  331 

8  again.     His  disciples  say  unto  Him,  Master,  the  Jews  of  late 

9  sought  to  stone  Thee ;  and  goest  Thou  thither  again  ?     Jesus 
answered,  Are  there  not  twelve l  hours  in  the   day  ?     If  any 
man  walk  in  the  day,  he  stumbleth  not,  because  he  seeth  the 

10  light  of  this  world.     But  if  a  man  walk  in  the  night,  he  stumbleth, 

11  because  there  is  no  light  in  him.     These  things  said  He  :  and 
after  that  He  saith  unto  them,  Our  friend  Lazarus  sleepeth;2 

12  but  I  go  that  I  may  awake  him  out  of  sleep.     Then  said  His 

13  disciples,  Lord,  if  he  sleep,  he  shall  do  well.     Howbeit  Jesus 
spake  of  his  death :  but  they  thought  that  He  had  spoken  of 

14  taking  of  rest  in  sleep.     Then  said  Jesus  unto  them  plainly, 

15  Lazarus  is  dead.     And  I  am  glad  for  your  sakes  that  I  was  not 
there,  to  the  intent  ye  may  believe ;  nevertheless  let  us  go  unto 

16  him.     Then  said  Thomas,3  which  is  called  Didyinus,  unto  his 
fellow  disciples,  Let  us  also  go,  that  we  may  die  with  him. 

17  Then  when  Jesus  came,  He  found  that  he  had  lain  in  the  grave 
18 four4  days  already.     Now  Bethany  was  nigh  unto  Jerusalem, 

after  His  plain  discourse  at  tlie  feast  of  dedication.  He  remains  there  two  days 
after  hearing  of  the  sore  affliction  of  His  friends  at  Bethany ;  His  delay  argued  no 
indifference. 

1  It  is  not  at  first  sight  easy  to  see  the  fitness  of  our  Lord's  answer   to  the 
remonstrance  of  the  disciples  when  He  announced  His  determination  to  visit  Judaea 
again.     The  figurative  language  He  employs  was  borrowed  from  the  division  of  the 
natural  c\ay,  which  in  Palestine  was  into  twelve  hours,  from  sunrise  to   sunset, 
varying  in  length  according  to  the  season  of  the  year.     The  words  of  our  Divine 
Lord,  in  this  instance,  contain  a  twofold  reference.     He  first  speaks  of  Himself  as 
a  man  having  an  appointed  work  on  the  earth ;  and  secondly  alludes  to  His  Divine 
mission,  to  give  light  to  the  world  as  its  spiritual  Illuminator ;    He  had  come  to 
this  world  on  His  Father's  business,  and  knew  that  the  twelve  hours  of  His  day 
could  not  be  cut  short. 

2  The  disciples  understood  Christ  as  speaking  literally.      They  had  heard  that 
Lazarus  was  sick,  but  no  new  messengers  had  arrived  to  tell  them  that  he  was  dead. 
Our  Saviour  on  another  occasion,  that  of  the  death  of  the  daughter  of  Jairus,  had 
designated  death  as  a  sleep.     Is  not  the  death  of  those  who  are  to  be  raised  again 
surely  just  as  properly  designated  sleep  as  that  of  those  who  were  to  be  T&isedspeedily  ? 
Even  the  heathen  called  the  places  set  apart  for  the  burial  of  their  dead  cemeteries, 
or  dormitories.     And  sleep  as  an  image  of  death  is  very  common  in  the  Scriptures  : 
see  Isa.  xxvi.  19  ;  Dan.  xii.  2  ;  Matt,  xxvii.  52  ;  Acts  xiii.  36 ;  1  Cor.  xv.  6,  18,  31 ; 
1  Thess.  iv.  13  ;  2  Pet.  iii.  4.      The  primitive  Christians  engraved  the  beautiful  idea 
on  their  tombs.     There  is  an  instructive  resemblance  or  analogy,  which  justifies  the 
use  of  so  favourite  an  image. 

3  We  discover  the  same  traits  of  character,  the  same  weakness  of  faith,  in  Thomas 
here  as  in  the  other  instances  in  which  he  is  brought  to  our  notice  by  this  evangelist. 

4  Jesus  remained  two  days  in  the  place  where  He  was,  after  hearing  of  the  sick- 
ness of  Lazarus,  and  He  was  probably  occupied  a  part  of  two  days  in  making  the 
journey.      Lazarus  according  to  Jewish  custom  was  probably  interred  on  the  day 
of  his  death.     Compare  verse  39. 


332  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OP   ST.  JOHN. 

19 about  fifteen1  furlongs  off:    and  many  of  the  Jews2  came  to 
Martha  and  Mary,  to  comfort  them  concerning  their  brother. 

20  Then  Martha,  as  soon  as  she  heard  that  Jesus  was  coming,  went 

21  and  met  Him:  but  Mary3  sat  still  in  the  house.     Then  said 
Martha  unto  Jesus,  Lord,  if  Thou  hadst  been  here,  my  brother 

22  had  not  died.     But  I  know,  that  even  now,  whatsoever  Thou 

23  wilt  ask  of  God,  God  will  give  it  Thee.     Jesus  saith  unto  her, 

24  Thy  brother  shall  rise  again.     Martha  saith  unto  Him,  I  know  4 
that  he  shall  rise  again  in  the  resurrection  at   the  last  day. 

25  Jesus  said  unto  her,  I  am  the  resurrection,5  and  the  life :  he 
that  belie veth  in  Me,  though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he  live  : 

26  and  whosoever   liveth  and  believeth  in  Me  shall   never    die. 

27  Believest  thou  this  ?  She  saith  unto  Him,  Yea,  Lord  :  I  believe 6 
that  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  which  should  come 

28  into  the  world.    And  when  she  had  so  said,  she  went  her  way,  and 
called  Mary  her  sister  secretly,  saying,  The  Master  is  come,  and 

29  calleth  for  thee.     As  soon  as  she  heard  that}  she  arose  quickly, 

30  and  came  unto  Him.     Now  Jesus  was  not  yet  come  into  the 

31  town,  but  was  in  that  place  where  Martha  met  Him.     The  Jews 
then  which  were  with  her  in  the  house,   and  comforted  her, 
when  they  saw  Mary,  that  she  rose  up   hastily  and  went  out, 
followed  her,  saying,  She  goeth  unto  the  grave  to  weep  there. 


1  "  About  two  miles,"  as  it  is  in  the  margin.     This  is  stated  to  account  for  the 
great  number  who  came  from  Jerusalem  to  manifest  their  sympathy  for  the  afflicted 
sisters. 

2  As  all  the  relatives  and  friends  of  the  family  must  have  been  Jews,  the  use  of 
this  expression  here  is  one  of  those  striking  internal  proofs  that  the  writer  had  been 
separated  from  the  Jewish  and  wrote  as  being  consciously  in  the  presence  of  the 
larger  Gentile  world. 

i  3  The  character  of  the  two  sisters,  just  as  it  is  pictured  by  Luke,  is  here  brought 

to  view  :  Martha  active  and  demonstrative  ;  Mary  quiet  and  meditative. 

4  Martha  shared  with  the  rest  of  the  Jews  in  the  knowledge  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
resurrection,  and  refers  what  Christ  had  just  said  about  her  brother's  rising  again  in 
the  general  resurrection  at  the  last  day. 

5  He  directs  the  glance  of  the  mourner  upon  His  own  person  as  the  great  centre  of 
hope  and  power.     He  is  the  Life  as  viewed  by  itself,  without  the  antagonistic  prin- 
ciple of  death.     He  is  the  Kesurrection,  as  being  its  author  and  efficient  cause,  in 
such  a  sense  that  He  could  claim  to  be  the  thing  itself.      He  was  very  soon  to  lay 
down  His  own  life,  which  no  man  could  take  from  Him,  and  then  by  His  own  power 
in  the  time  allotted  to  take  it  again. 

6  And  we  too  believe,  0  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  that  "  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son 
of  God,  which  should  come  into  the  world."     We  believe  that  Thou  art  the  Eesur- 
rection  and  the  Life,  and  whosoever  trusts  in  Thee,  though  he  were  dead,  shall  live, 
live  for  evermore. 


ST.    JOHN    XI.  333 

2  Then  when  Mary  was  come  where  Jesus  was,  and  saw  Him,  she 
fell  down  at  His  feet,  saying  unto  Him,  Lord,  if  Thou  hadst  been 

33  here,  my  brother  had   not   died.     When  Jesus  therefore   saw 
her  weeping,  and  the  Jews  also  weeping  which  came  with  her, 

34  He  groaned  in  the  spirit  and  was  troubled,  and  said,  Where 

35  have  ye  laid  him?   They  say  unto  Him,  Lord,  come  and  see.    Jesus 

36  wept.1     Then   said   the   Jews,    Behold   how   He    loved   him ! 

37  And  some  of  them  said,  Could  not  this  man,  which  opened  the 
eyes  of  the  blind,  have  caused  that  even  this  man  should  not 

38  have  died  ?     Jesus  therefore  again  groaning  in  Himself  cometh 

39  to  the  grave.     It  was  a  cave, "  and  a  stone  lay  upon  it.     Jesus 
said,  Take  ye  away  the  stone.     Martha,  the  sister  of  him  that 
was  dead,  saith  unto  Him,  Lord,  by  this  time  he  stinketh :  for 

40  he  hath  been  dead  four  days.     Jesus  saith  unto  her,  Said  I  not 
unto  thee,  that,  if  thou  wouldest  believe,  thou  shouldest  see  the 

41  glory  of  God  ?     Then  they  took  away  the  stone  from  the  place 
where  the  dead  was  laid.     And  Jesus  lifted  up  His  eyes,  and 

42  said,  Father,  I  thank  Thee  that  Thou  hast  heard  Me.     And  I 
knew  that  Thou  nearest  Me  always  :  but  because 3  of  the  people 
which  stand  by  I  said  it,  that  they  may  believe  that  Thou  hast 

43  sent  Me.     And  when  He  thus  had  spoken,  He  cried  with  a  loud 
44 voice,  Lazarus,   come4  forth.      And  he  that   was  dead  came 

1  "We  have  in  the  tears  of  Jesus,  on  this  occasion,  one  of  the  convincing  proofs  of 
His  true  humanity.     We  see  Him  also  in  His  character  of  atoning  Saviour.      Mary 
and  Martha  were  but  types  and  representatives  of  a  sorrowing  world.    He  connected 
with  death  that  which  brought  it  into  the  world — sin.     We  couple  the  tears  He  shed 
at  the  grave  with  the  blood  He  sweat  in  the  garden  and  shed  on  the  cross.     "St. 
John  did  not  hesitate  to  picture  Jesus  weeping  before  the  eyes  of  those  whom  He 
sought  to  convince  that  He  was  the  Saviour  of  the  world.      It  may  have  been  as 
much  for  the  sake  of  these  Divine  words,  "  JESUS  WEPT,"   as  for  those  words  of 
Divine  power,  "  LAZAEUS,  COME  FORTH,"  that  he  sketched  the  tender  and  affecting 
scene  at  the  grave  of  Lazarus. 

2  The  Jews  "  buried  their  dead,"  says  Tholuck,  "  in  sepulchres  hewn  in  the  rocks 
(Matt,  xxvii.  60),  through  which  were  passages  of  the  kind  that  may  be  seen  to  this 
day  in  the  catacombs  of  Eome  ;  on  both  sides  of  these  passages  were  openings  in 
which  the  bodies  were  deposited.      Many  of  these  caves  entered  into  the  earth  hori- 
zontally, others  perpendicularly,  so  that  the  stone  closing  the  entrance  might  be 
said  to  be  laid  against  as  well  as  laid  upon  the  grave." 

3  That  which  He  said  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  stood  by,  that  they  might  be- 
lieve in  Him,  were  these  words,  "  Father,  I  thank  Thee  that  Thou  hast  heard  Me." 
He  would  have  them  believe  that  the  Father  had  sent  Him,  and  was  always  with 
Him,  and  that  He  and  His  Father  were  one. 

4  The  mighty  voice  of  power  with  which  Jesus  raised  Lazarus  must  be  regarded 
as  significant  or  typical  of  that  word  and  authority  with  which  Jesus,  in  the  last 
great  day,  will  call  forth  all  who  sleep  hi  the  grave. 


334  TflE    LIFE    AND    WRITINGS   OF    ST.  JOHN. 

forth,  bound  hand  and  foot  with   graveclothes ;  and  his  face 

was  bound  about  with  a  napkin.  Jesus  saith  unto  them,  Loose 
45  him,  and  let  him  go.  Then  many1  of  the  Jews  which  came 

to  Mary,  and  had  seen  the  things  which  Jesus  did,  believed  on 
4-6  Him.  But  some  of  them  went  their  ways  to  the  Pharisees,  and 
47  told  them  what  things  Jesus  had  done.  Then  gathered  the 

chief  priests  and  the  Pharisees  a  council,2  and  said,  What  do 
48 we?  for  this  man  doeth  many  miracles.  If  we  let  Him  thus 

alone,  all  men  will  believe  on  Him ;  and  the  Romans  shall  come 

49  and  take  away  both  our  place  and  nation.     And  one  of  them 
named  Caiaphas,3  being  the  high  priest  that  same  year,  said 

50  unto  them,  Ye  know  nothing  at   all,  nor  consider  that  it  is 
expedient  for  us,  that  one  man  should  die  for  the  people,  and 

51  that  the  whole  nation  perish  not.     And  this  spake  he  not  of 
himself:  but  being  high  priest  that  year  he  prophesied  that 

52 Jesus   should  die  for  that  nation;    and  not  for    that    nation 
only,  but  that  also  He  should  gather  together  in  one  the  children 

53  of  God  that  were  scattered  abroad.     Then  from  that  day  forth 

54  they  took  counsel  together  for  to  put  Him  to  death.     JQSUS 
therefore  walked  no  more  openly  among  the  Jews;  but  went 
thence  unto  a  country  near  to  the  wilderness,  into  a  city  called 
Ephraim,  and  there  continued  with  His  disciples, 

24.  The  risen  Lazarus  a  living  witness  among  the  Jeivs  to  the  Messiahship 

of  Jesus. 
XL  55.]  [XII.  1-11. 

55  And  the  Jews'  passover  4  was  nigh  at  hand  :  and  many  went 
out   of  the   country  up  to  Jerusalem  before  the  passover,  to 

1  "We  have  no  reason  to  doubt  that  their  faith  was  genuine  and  permanent.     Such 
an  exhibition  of  power,  united  with  such  purity  of  doctrine  and  excellence  of  charac- 
ter as  were  found  in  Christ,  were  well  suited  to  win  their  confidence  and  impress 
their  hearts. 

2  The  Sanhedrin  was  called,  and  in  order  to  tranquillize  their  own  consciences 
the  matter  was  represented  in  such  a  way  as  to  create  the  impression  that  danger 
threatened  the  nation  from  the  Komans,  in  case  Jesus  went  on  gaining  reputation 
and  influence  among  the  people. 

3  The  course  which  the  high-priest  recommended  should  be  taken,  in  the  delibera- 
tions of  the  council,  is  very  remarkable.      But  his    words  doubtless  had  a  meaning 
which  he  did  not  himself  intend.     Like  Balaam,  he  became  as  it  were  a  prophet 
against  his  will,  and  unconsciously  declared  the  purpose  of  God  in  the  Saviour's 
death.      The  evangelist  explains  or  interprets  his  words  as  meaning  that  Jesus 
should  die,  not  for  the  Jewish  nation  alone,  but  that  He  should  gather  into  one  the 
children  of  God  scattered  abroad. 

4  At  the  meeting  of  the  Sanhedrin,  immediately  after  the  resurrection  of  Lazarus, 


ST.    JOHN    XII.  335 

56  purify  themselves.      Then  sought  they  for  Jesus,  and  spake 
among  themselves,  as  they  stood  in  the  temple,  What  think 

57  ye,  that  He  will  not  come  to  the  feast  ?     Now  both  the  chief 
priests  and  the  Pharisees  had  given  a  commandment,1  that,  if 
any  man  knew  where  He  were,  he  should  show  it,  that  they 
might  take  Him. 

XII.] 
1      Then  Jesus  six 2  days  before  the  passover  came  to  Bethany, 

where  Lazarus  was  which  had  been  dead,  whom  He  raised  from 
2 the  dead.  There  they  made  Him  a  supper;3  and  Martha4 

served :  but  Lazarus  was  one  of  them  that  sat  at  the  table  with 
3 Him.  Then  took  Mary5  a  pound  of  ointment  of  spikenard, 

very  costly,  and  anointed  the  feet  of  Jesus,  and  wiped  His  feet 

the  death  of  Jesus  may  be  regarded  as  having  been  formally  decreed.  Our  Lord 
therefore  retired  to  "  a  country  near  to  the  wilderness,  into  a  city  called  Ephraim," 
and  after  tarrying  there  for  awhile  went  again  into  Perroa,  east  of  the  Jordan. 
There  He  taught  and  performed  miracles,  and  when  the  time  came  joined  one  of 
the  caravans  going  to  the  passover  at  which  He  was  to  suffer. 

1  His  enemies  were  awaiting  His  coming,  and  had  issued  a  process  that  as  soon  as 
His  whereabouts  should  be  known  He  might  be  arrested. 

2  The  tune  here  named,  "  six  days  before  the  passover,"  is  equivalent  to  the  sixth 
day  before  that  festival.     As  our  Lord  ate  the  paschal  supper  on  the  evening  of 
Thursday,  which  evening,  according  to  the  Jewish  mode  of  reckoning,  was  part  of 
Friday,  the  sixth  day  before  the  passover  was  the  first  day  of  the  week,  corresponding 
to  our  Sunday,  or  Lord's  day.     Jesus  then  came  to  Bethany  on  the  first  day  of  the 
week.     He  had  probably  spent  the  preceding  day,  the  Jewish  sabbath,  resting,  ac- 
cording to  the  commandment,  at  Jericho,  in  the  house  of  Zacchaeus  the  publican. 
He  told  him  when  he  came  down  from  the  tree  that  He  must  "abide  "  at  his  house 
(Luke  xix.  5).     Continuing  His  journey,  the  next  day  He  stopped  at  Bethany,  the 
scene  of  His  great  miracle.     If  His  enemies  supposed  it  was  through  fear  of  them 
He  had  concealed  Himself,  they  would  now  be  astonished  to  learn  that  He  was  to 
be  found  at  Bethany.     They  would  be  still  more  astonished  at  His  triumphal  entry 
amid  the  Hosannas  of  the  people  into  the  city,  at  His  expulsion  of  the  profaners 
of  the  temple,  and  His  faithful  and  solemn  teaching  from  day  to  day,  within  its 
sacred  precincts,  returning  nightly  to  His  beloved  Bethany  for  rest. 

3  We  are  not  to  infer  that  this  supper  was  made  on  the  same  day  as  our  Lord's 
arrival  at  Bethany.     He  arrived  on  the  first  day  of  the  week.     After  His  public 
entry  on  the  first  day  He  continued  to  visit  the  city  from  day  to  day,  giving  much 
instruction  in  the  temple.      The  feast  or  supper  appears  to  have  been  made  on  the 
fifth  after  His  arrival,  or  on  the  evening  of  Wednesday  preceding  the  passover.     This 
is  the  chronological  order  of  Matthew  and  Mark.  We  learn  from  these  evangelists  that 
it  took  place  in  the  house  of  Simon  the  leper. 

4  Devoted  to  household  pursuits,  true  to  her  tastes  and  character,  she  could  make 
herself  useful  in  the  house  of  a  friend  and  neighbour,  having  such  a  Guest. 

6  If  we  have  a  revelation  of  the  character  of  Martha,  in  her  serving,  on  this 
occasion,  we  have  another  of  that  of  Mary  in  the  beautiful  incident  here  recorded. 
John  mentions  only  the  anointing  of  the  feet.  Both  the  head  and  the  feet  doubtless 
received  the  application ;  but  John  gives  prominence  only  to  the  anointing  of  the 


336  THE    LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OP    ST.  JOHN. 

with  her  hair  :  and  the  house  was  filled  with  the  odour  of  the 

4  ointment.      Then   saith  one  of  His  disciples,  Judas  Iscariot, 

5  Simon's  son,  which  should   betray   Him,  Why    was   not    this 
ointment  sold  for  three  hundred  pence,  and  given  to  the  poor  ? 

6  This  he  said,  not  that  he  cared  for  the  poor ;  but  because  he 
was  a  thief,  and  had  the  bag,  and  bare  what  was  put  therein. 

7  Then  said  Jesus,  Let  her  alone  :  against  the  day  of  My  burying l 

8  hath  she  kept  this.     For  the  poor  always   ye  have  with  you  ; 

9  but  Me  ye  have  not  always.     Much  people  of  the  Jews  therefore 
knew  that  He  was  there  :  and  they  came  not   for  Jesus'  sake 
only,   but  that  they  might  see   Lazarus  also,  whom  He  had 

10  raised  from  the  dead.     But  the  chief  priests  consulted  that  they 

11  might  put  Lazarus  also  to  death  ;2  because  that  by  reason  of  him 
many  of  the  Jews  went  away,  and  believed  on  Jesus. 

feet.  Matthew  and  Mark  speak  of  the  anointing  of  the  head,  but  say  nothing  of  the 
feet.  John  speaks  of  the  feet  only,  perhaps  because  of  the  use  of  so  precious  a  com- 
modity. The  cost  of  the  box,  estimated  according  to  the  measure  of  value  in  our 
day,  was  a  large  sum  for  one  in  her  circumstances.  The  value  set  upon  it  by  Judas 
and  others  present  was  three  hundred  pence  or  denarii,  a  sum  nearly  equal,  when 
the  wages  of  the  labourers  were  a  penny  a  day,  to  a  year's  income  from  a  man's 
incessant  daily  toil.  It  was  because  of  its  costliness  that  it  served  her  purpose. 

1  She  had  treasured  up  in  her  heart  the  intimation  which  more  than  once  had 
fallen  from  the  lips  of  Jesus  concerning  His  death.     She  saw  the  gathering  dark- 
ness in  the  increased  animosity  of  His  foes,  and  with  love's  quick  apprehension  knew 
that  the  hour  was  come.      As  Jesus  reclined  at  the  table,  after  the  ancient  oriental 
fashion,  Mary  could  with  equal  ease  approach  both  His  head  and  His  feet.      She 
pours  upon  them  the  precious  oil  or  nard,  and  wipes  His  feet  with  her  hair.      And 
this  may  be  the  reason  why  John  mentions  only  the  anointing  of  the  feet,  because 
of  the  use  which  Mary  made  of  her  hair.     His  own  "  ardent  love  for  his  Master  found 
a  counterpart  in  that  of  Mary,  and  he  records  that  feature  of  her  pieus  service  which 
exhibited  most  strongly  her  deep  and  superabounding  devotion  to  Jesus."      (Dr.  J. 
J.  Owen.)     This  was  not  the  only  instance  in  which  the  feet  of  our  Lord  had  been 
anointed  while  He  was  reclining  at  table.      See  the  touching  incident  of  the  "  woman 
which  was  a  sinner,"  who  first  washed  His  feet  with  her  tears,  and  wiped  them  with 
her  hair,  and  then  anointed  them  from  an  alabaster  box  of  ointment,  Luke  vii. 
These  women,  and  others  who  attended  on  our  Lord  and  ministered  to  Him,  were 
representatives  of  that  great  number  of  devoted  women  from  the  beginning,  who, 
loving  much  because  much  forgiven,  or  who,  like  Mary  and  Martha,  having  sought 
and  obtained  consolation  in  sorrow  from  the  words  and  presence  of  Jesus,  have 
devoted  themselves  to  the  glory  and  advancement  of  His  kingdom.     The  very  world 
has  been  filled  with  the  odour  of  their  alabaster  boxes,  which  they  have  poured  on 
the  feet  and  head  of  the  Lord.     What   a  contrast  between  these  two  portraits, 
standing  here  side  by  side  on  the  evangelic  page, — that  of  the  gentle  loving  Mary, 
with  her  "  ointment  of  spikenard,  very  costly,"  and  that  of  the  avaricious  plotting 
Judas,  with  his  money-bag !     It  is  no  mere  accident  that  they  stand  in  this  close 
propinquity. 

2  So  great  was  the  sensation  created  by  the  resurrection  of  Lazarus,  and  so 


ST.    JOHN    XII.  337 

25.  Jesus  is  proclaimed  Messiah  by  the  multitude  at  Jerusalem,  at  His 

triumphal  entry. 

[Ver.  12-19. 

12  On  the  next l  day  much  people  that  were  come  to  the  feast, 

13  when  they  heard  that  Jesus  was  coming  to  Jerusalem,  took 
branches  of  palm  trees,  and  went  forth  to  meet  Him,  and  cried, 
Hosanna :  blessed  is  the  King  of  Israel  that  cometh  in  the  name 

14  of  the  Lord.     And  Jesus,  when  He  had  found  a  young  ass,2  sat 

desperate  had  matters  become  to  the  chief  priests,  that  they  even  counselled  about 
putting  Lazarus  to  death.  He  was  a  living  witness  to  the  power  of  Jesus  over  death. 
The  curiosity  of  "  much  people  of  the  Jews  "  (ver.  9,  #xAos  TTO\I>S,  a  great  multitude) 
was  excited  to  see  him  ;  and  as  Bethany  was  near  to  Jerusalem  it  was  easily  grati- 
fied. Streams  of  people  were  coming  and  going,  and  many  believed  on  Jesus. 
There  was  no  lack  of  witnesses  as  to  the  death  of  Lazarus,  and  his  burial  four  days  ; 
and  there  was  no  lack  of  witnesses  when  he  was  raised  to  life  ;  and  therefore  every 
one  who  saw  him  alive  became  a  new  witness  to  the  reality  of  the  miracle,  and  to 
the  truth  of  the  words  of  Jesus  that  He  was  "the  Eesurrection  and  the  Life."  It 
was  a  miracle,  as  to  its  proof  and  its  character,  which  might  be  held  up  before  the 
whole  world  as  demanding  the  belief  of  every  man  in  Him  as  the  Son  of  God  and 
Saviour,  that  believing  they  might  have  life  through  His  name. 

1  The  rising  enthusiasm  in  His  favour,  which  had  so  disconcerted  the  chief  priests 
and  Pharisees,  was  about  to  manifest  itself,  and  the  declaration  that  He  was  the 
King  of  Israel,  the  promised  Messiah,  to  be  proclaimed  in  the  hearing  of  Jerusalem 
by  the  shout  of  the  multitude  ;  presenting  a  scene  in  the  Saviour's  earthly  career  in 
the  widest  contrast  with  all  that  we  read  of  Him  on  almost  every  other  occasion. 
The  evangelist  introduces  it  into  his  narrative  as  one  of  the  proofs  that  Jesus  was 
the  Christ,  or  as  showing  the  evidence  that  went  along  with  Him,  addressed  to  and 
convincing  the  great  mass  of  the  people,  even  at  Jerusalem  the  centre  of  opposition. 
It  was  on  the  next  day  after  His  arrival  at  Bethany,  where  He  appears  to  have 
passed  the  night.     The  city  was  crowded  with  people  who  had  come  to  the  feast. 

2  Two  of  His  disciples,   as  we  learn  from  the  other  evangelists  (Matt.  xxi.  1-17, 
Mark  xi.  1-11,  Luke  xix.  29-44),  had  been  sent  for  the  ass  on  which  He  was  to 
ride  into  the  Jewish  capital.     The  information  would  not  be  long  in  extending  to 
the  city,  and  surrounding  villages,  that  Jesus  was  coming.     He  moves  towards  the 
city,  and  the  multitude  precede  and  follow,  bestowing  that  honour  which  men  show 
to  an  illustrious  prince.     He  did  not  prohibit  them.     His  whole  career  had  been 
unobtrusive  ;  He  had  not  sought  such  homage  from  the  people.     And  although  many 
of  them  may  have  joined  in  this  demonstration  through  the  contagion  of  popular 
excitement,  yet,  like  Caiaphas  in  his  prophecy,  even  these  are  made  unconsciously 
to  bear  testimony  to  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus.     And  by  permitting  these  manifesta- 
tions on  the  part  of  the  people  the  great  Messianic  prophecy  of  Zechariah,  chap, 
ix.  9,  was  fulfilled.     The  Saviour  as  He  drew  near  the  city,  in  which  could  be  dis- 
tinctly heard,  from  the  sides  of  Olivet,  the  shouts  of  the  multitude  accompanying 
Him,  was  met  by  another  multitude,  who  came  pouring  out  of  the  gates  and  were 
not  to  be  outdone  in  the  honours  shown  Him  by  those  who  had  accompanied  Him 
from  the  villages  on  the  other  side.      They  returned  the  shout  in  words  equivalent 
to  acknowledging  Him  to  be  their  expected  Messiah.     The  words  were  no  mere 
accident  in  their  lips,  any  more  than  was  the  prophecy  uttered  by  Caiaphas  or  the 
proclamation  made  by  the  spirits  He  cast  out. 

z 


338  TETE    LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

15  thereon ;  as  it  is  written,  Fear  not,  daughter  of  Sion :  behold, 

16  thy  King  cometh,  sitting  on  an  ass's  colt.     These  things  under- 
stood not  His  disciples  at  the  first :  but  when  Jesus  was  glorified, 
then  remembered  they  that  these  things  were  written  of  Him, 

17  and  that  they  had  done  these  things  unto  Him.     The  people 
therefore  that  was  with  Him  when  He  called  Lazarus l  out  of 

18  his  grave,  and  raised  him  from  the  dead,  bare  record.     For  this 
cause  the  people  also  met  Him,  for  that  they  heard  that  He  had 

19  done  this  miracle.      The  Pharisees  therefore  said  among  them- 
selves, Perceive  ye  how  ye  prevail  nothing  ?  behold,  the  world  2 
is  gone  after  Him. 

26.  A  voice  from  heaven  proclaims  His  Divine  Sonsliip  in  the  ears  of 

certain  representatives  of  the  Gentile  world. 

[Yer.  20-33. 

20  And  there  were  certain  Greeks  3  among  them  that  came  up 
2Tto  worship  at  the  feast:    the  same  came  therefore  to  Philip,4 

1  The  astonishing  miracle,  in  the  case  of  Lazarus,  was  the  cause  immediately 
operating  in  securing  this  acknowledgment  on  the  part  of  the  people  that  Jesus  was 
the  promised  King.      There  were  other  mighty  works  which  were  proclaimed  by  His 
disciples  in  the  ears  of  the  two  multitudes,  as  they  met  and  mingled  in  one  vast 
concourse,  and  raised  their  united  voices,  "  Hosanna  to  the  Son  of  David  !    Blessed 
is  He  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  !     Hosanna  in  the  highest !  " 

2  The  world  might  seem  to  be  running  after  Him  ;  but  the  Pharisees  judged,  and, 
as  the  event  pro\ed,  judged  rightly,  that  if  they  could  secure  His  arrest  under  the 
authority  of  the  Eomans,  and  by  a  detachment  of  Roman  soldiers,  the  fickle  multi- 
tude, governed  by  impulse  and  awed  by  power,  would  be  silent,  if  they  were  not  found 
to  join  in  the  cry  "  Away  with  Him."     In  this  scene  of  rejoicing  and  triumph  there 
was  one  event  in  singular  contrast  with  it,  and  forming  as  it  were   a  striking 
episode,  not  related  by  John.     As  He  gained  the  summit  of  Olivet,  and  came  in 
sight  of  the  city,  He  was  overwhelmed  with  the  deepest  sadness  and  grief,  and  wept 
over  it :  see  Luke  xix.  41-44.     It  was  on  the  following  morning,  as  He  returned 
into  the  city,  that  as  a  symbolic  act  He  cursed  the  fruitless  fig  tree,  and  went  directly 
to  the  temple,  where  He  repeated  another  highly  symbolic  act  by  again  driving  out 
of  it,  as  He  had  done  at  the  beginning  of  His  ministry,  the  profane  traders  and 
money-changers. 

3  There  were  representatives  of  the  Gentile  world,  who  came  from  the  East  at  the 
beginning  of  the  life  of  Jesus,  and  worshipped  at  His  cradle  ;  these  men,  at  the  end 
of  His  life,  came  from  the  West  to  bow  at  His  cross.      As  they  had  come  to  Jerusa- 
lem to  worship  they  were  doubtless  proselytes.      As  Jesus  was  the  one  topic  of  con- 

)  versation,  and  as  they  perhaps  had  been  witnesses  of  the  remarkable  demonstration 
at  His  triumphal  entry,  they  resolved  to  seek  an  introduction  to  Him.  It  was  one  of 
the  few  occasions  in  the  history  of  our  Lord,  when  others  besides  the  lost  sheep  of 
the  house  of  Israel  shared  in  His  instructions.  We  may  hope  that  they  were 
among  the  firstfruits  of  that  harvest  of  souls  which  was  to  be  gathered  from  the 
heathen  world. 

*  Philip  and  Andrew,  as  may  perhaps  be  inferred  from  their  Grecian  names,  had 
been  brought  up  in  one  of  the  Hellenic  cities  of  Syria,  and  could  speak  the  Greek 


ST.   JOHN   XII.  339 

which  was  of  Bethsaida  of  Galilee,  and  desired  him,  saying,  Sir, 

22  we  would  see  Jesus.       Philip  cometh  and  telleth  Andrew  :  and 

23  again  Andrew  and  Philip  tell  Jesus.    And  Jesus  answered  them, 
saying,  The  hour1  is   come,  that  the  Son  of  man  should  be 

24  glorified.    Yerily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  Except  a  corn2  of  wheat 
fall  into  the  ground  and  die,  it  abideth  alone  :  but  if  it  die,  it 

25  bringeth  forth  much  fruit.    He  that  loveth  3  his  life  shall  lose  it ; 
and  he  that  hateth  his  life  in  this  world  shall  keep  it  unto  life 

26  eternal.     If  any  man  serve  Me,  let  him  follow  Me  ;  and  where  I 
am,  there  shall  also  My  servant  be  :  if  any  man  serve  Me,  him 

27  will  My  Father  honour.     Now  is  My  soul  troubled  ;  4  and  what 
shall  I  say  ?     Father,  save  Me  from  this  hour :  but  for  this 

28  cause  5  came  I  unto  this  hour.    Father,  glorify  Thy  name.    Then 
came  there  a  voice 6  from  heaven,  saying,  I  have  both  glorified 

language,  which  may  have  been  the  reason  why  the  Greeks  sought  an  interview    / 

with  Jesus  through  them. 

1  That  is,  the  appointed  time.     "  The  request  of  these  Gentiles  was  so  manifest 
a  precursor  of  the  great  numbers  who  should  come  to  Him  as  the  Saviour  of  men, 
from  the  Gentile  world,  that  our  Lord  breaks  forth  in  triumphal  exclamation,  as 
though  His  future  glorification  in  the  universal  spread  of  the  gospel  were  already 
come." 

2  As  it  is  necessary  a  grain  of  wheat  should  be  deposited  in  the  earth,  in  order  to 
the  development  of  the  germ  and  its  increase,  so  was  the  humiliation  of  Christ 
necessary  to  His  glorification.     The  grain  of  wheat  unless  cast  into  the  earth, 
remains    "bare  grain"  and  unproductive.      There  is  no  seed  which,  it  is   said, 
seems  to  come  to  more  utter  putrefaction,  in  evolving  the  germ  of  production,  than 
wheat. 

3  In  the  hearing  of  these  Gentile  inquirers,  our  Lord  not  only  without  conceal- 
ment speaks  of  His  own  humiliation,  which  must  precede  His  glory,  but  in  the 
most  distinct  manner  tells  them  that  all  who  would  be  His  followers,  and  share  His 
glory,  must  consent  to  follow  Him  in  the  path  of  humility  and  self  denial.     He  would 
not  have  these  Greeks  (perhaps  they  belonged  to  the  more  cultivated  and  refined 
class  of  their  race)  go  away  with  a  false  impression, '  as  they  might  if  He  spake 
alone  of  His  glory.    It  was  a  glory  to  be  reached  by  the  m,  as  well  as  by  Him, 
through  the  path  of  suffering. 

4  There  were  several  occasions  when  the  Saviour's  anticipated  sufferings  seemed 
to  produce  a  most  remarkable  effect  on  His  mind.     See  Luke  xii.  50.    In  the  garden 
He  exclaimed,  "  My  soul  is  exceeding  sorrowful  even  unto  death"  (Matt.  xxyi.  38). 
And  in  the  presence  of  these  representatives  of  the  Gentile  world  He  seems  to  have 
had  a  foretaste  of  the  agony  of  Gethsemane.      His  mind  was  thrown  into  a  state  of 
perturbation  and  distress.     He  felt  the  weight  of  the  sins  He  had  upon  Him,  as  He 
contemplated  the  world,  in  all  its  tribes  and  nations,  for  which  He  came  to  provide 
salvation.     He  was  bearing  the  guilt  of  Gentiles  as  well  as  Jews. 

5  It  was  "  for  this  cause,"  that  He  might  endure  these  very  sufferings  to  atone 
for  sin,  that  He  came  into  the  world. 

6  This,  like  the  voice  at  His  baptism  and  at  His  transfiguration,  is  one  of  the 
most  wonderful  events  of  our  Lord's  history.     On  these  two  former  occasions  the 
testimony  was  the  same,  "  This  is  My  beloved  Son."    On  the  present  occasion  the 


340  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF    ST.  JOHN. 

29  it,  and  will  glorify  it  again.     The  people  therefore  that  stood 
by,  and  heard  it,  said  that  it  thundered  :  others  said,  An  angel 

30  spake  to  Him.      Jesus  answered  and  said,  This  voice  came  not 

31  because  of  Me,1  but  for  your  sakes.     Now  is  the  judgment 2  of 
this  world  :  now  shall  the  prince   of  this  world  be  cast  out. 

32  And  I,  if  I  be  lifted 3  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw 4  all  men 

33  unto  Me.     This  He  said,  signifying  what  death  He  should  die. 

voice  was  heard  not  only  by  His  disciples,  but  by  the  whole  company  of  both  Jews 
and  Gentiles  present.  It  was  probably  uttered  with  special  reference  to  the  Greeks. 
It  was  meet  that  they  should  lack  no  evidence  that  this  Jesus  whom  they  had  desired 
to  see  had  come  from  God.  They  had  this  in  the  distinct  articulate  utterance  from 
heaven  in  response  to  His  prayer.  There  is  a  calm  sublimity  in  the  response,  as  if  it 
came  from  that  serene  region  for  ever  removed  from  all  that  disturbs  and  agitates 
the  affairs  and  bosoms  of  men.  As  it  was  uttered  with  special  reference  to  the 
Gentiles  present,  and  they  appear  already  to  have  been  so  favourably  disposed  to- 
wards Jesus,  we  may  conclude  that  it  wrought  full  conviction  in  their  minds  that 
He  was  the  Son  of  God  and  Saviour  of  men. 

1  The  voice  was  principally  for  their  sakes  who  stood  by,  especially,  as  before  inti- 
mated, for  those  interesting  representatives  of  the  Gentile  world  who  had  come 
seeking  Jesus.    It  was  intended  as  a  testimony  from  the  Father  in  behalf  of  the 
Son,  that  should  dispel  every  lingering  doubt  in  their  minds  that  He  was  the  Christ. 
They  had  probably  seen  none  of  His  miracles ;  they  had  never  heard  His  gracious 
words  before.      They  would  shortly  return  whence  they  came,  and  have  no  further 
opportunity  of  seeing  the  wonders  of  His  hands  or  listening  to  His  instructions. 
Probably,  at  length,  in  their  far  distant  home  the  tidings  would  reach  them  that 
the  Jesus  who^e  presence  they  had  sought,  and  to  whose  wondrous  words  they  had 
listened,  had  been  put  to  an  ignominious  death  on  the  cross.     They  would  then 
recall  the  voice,  and  what  He  Himself  had  told  them  about  the  corn  of  wheat  falling 
into  the  earth  and  dying  that  it  might  bring  forth  fruit. 

2  The  word  rendered  judgment  literally  signifies  a  crisis,  a  separating  or  dis- 
criminating process  among  men,  according  to  their  belief  or  unbelief. 

3  Our  Lord  in  the  presence  of  these  Gentiles  speaks  distinctly  of  His  death  and 
the  manner  of  His  death.     He  refers  to  His  being  lifted  up  between  heaven  and 
earth,  on  the  cross.     He  describes  graphically  the  death  He  should  die.    When  these 
Greeks,  in  their  far  distant  home,  should  hear  of  His  crucifixion,  they  would  know 
that  He  foretold  the  very  manner  of  His  death  ;  and  this  instead  of  weakening  would 
strengthen  their  confidence  in  Him. 

4  He  was  to  endure  a  cruel  ignominious  death,  that  the  prince  of  this  -world  might 
be  cast  out,  and  men,  emancipated  from  his  power,  might  be  drawn  to  Himself.     The 
attraction  of  His  cross  was  to  be  felt  in  every  part  of  the  world.      The  Greeks,  who 
had  come  seeking  Him,  were  but  the  firstfruits  of  a  glorious  harvest.      He  was  to 
be  lifted  up  higher  than  the  cross,  exalted  at  God's  right  hand,  and  have  all  power 
given  Him.     He  was  to  send  forth  His  servants  to  teach  all  nations,  and  His  Spirit 
was  to  go  with  them,  working  with  them  and  drawing  men  from  their  sins  and  vain 
hopes  to  Him.     He,  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  after  He  had  been  lifted  up  from  the  earth, 
would  do  all  this.     When  asked  what  text  in  the  New  Testament  points  to  the  uni- 
versal spread  of  the  gospel,  and  the  conversion  of  the  world,  we  point  to  this.    Could 
anything  more  to  the  purpose  be  desired  than  these  words  of  the  Saviour  Himself, 
uttered  in  the  presence  of  this  deputation,  as  they  may  be  regarded,  from  the  Gentile 
world  ? 


ST.    JOHN   XTI.  341 


27.  Even  the  rejection  of  Jesus  by  the  Jews,  notwithstanding  the  evidence  of 
His  Messiahship,  was  a  fulfilment  of  prophecy. 

[Ver.  34-50. 

34  The  people l  answered  Him,  We  have  heard  out  of  the  law 
that  Christ  abideth  for  ever :  and  how  sayest  Thou,  The  Son  of 

35  man  must  be  lifted2  up?  who  is  this   Son3  of  man?     Then 
Jesus  said  unto  them,  Yet  a  little  while  is  the  light  with  you. 
Walk  while  ye  have  the  light,  lest  darkness  come  upon  you  :  for 
he  that  walketh  in  darkness  knoweth  not  whither  he  goeth. 

36  While  ye  have  light,  believe  in  the  light,  that  ye  may  be  the 
children  of  light.     These  things  spake  Jesus,  and  departed,  and 

37  did  hide  4  Himself  from  them.      But  though  He  had  done  so 
many  miracles   before   them,  yet  they  believed  not  on  Him : 

38  that  the  saying  of  Esaias  the  prophet  might  be  fulfilled,5  which 

1  To  set  forth  the  evidence  that  Jesus  was  the  promised  Saviour,  and  show  that 
unbelief  in  Him  is  inexcusable,  is  the  one  great  object  of  the  evangelist.      To  the 
question  why  with  all  this  clearness  of  evidence  they  did  not  believe,  we  have  the 
answer  in  the  words  of  Christ  Himself.     We  have,  in  fact,  in  their  unbelief  another 
evidence  that  Jesus  was  the  promised  Deliverer  ;  for  their  rejection  of  Him  was  a 
fulfilment  of  prophecy. 

2  This  proves  that  the  Jews  by  this  expression  had  understood  Him  as  referring 
to  His  departure  from  the  world. 

3  This  question  is  to  be  taken  probably  as  spoken  in  a  contemptuous  tone,  "  What 
sort  of  a  Son  of  man  is  this  ?  "     He  contents  Himself  with  stating  again,  in  another 
form,  the  fact  that  He  should  be  with  them  but  a  little  longer.      They  might  reject 
Him  on  this  account,  but  He  would  not  attempt  to  conceal  it,  nor  to  explain  it 
away.      But  two  days  remained  before  He  was  to  be  crucified  ;  they  were  to  hear 
but  few  more  words  from  Him. 

4  This  appeal  of  the  Saviour  was  the  last  which  He  seems  to  have  made  to  those 
who  had  hitherto  rejected  Him  ;  it  was  His  last  warning.      He  returned  no  more  to 
the  temple.  The  expression  that  "  He  hid  "  Himself  means  that  He  sought  retirement 
with  His  disciples,  where  He  could  be  secure  from  intrusion ;  for  He  had  many  things 
to  say  to  them  ;  and  all  that  remains,  following  this  section,  of  the  proofs  of  His 
Messiahship,  appears  in  connection  with  these  private  instructions,  and  His  cruci- 
fixion and  resurrection. 

5  The  evangelist  now  states  distinctly  that  the  rejection  of  Jesus  by  the  Jews 
was  a  matter  of  prophecy,  the  fulfilment  of  so  signal  a  prophecy  as  that  by  Isaiah, 
chapter  liii.      The  Scriptures  had  not  then  been  divided  into  verses  and  chapters ; 
he  could  cite  it  only  by  citing  its  title  or  the  sentences  with  which  it  opens.     The 
entire  chapter,  which  is  a  graphic  description  of  the  lowly  appearance  and  sufferings 
of  Him  who  came  for  salvation,  is  doubtless  referred  to.      The  very  unbelief  of  the 
scribes  and  Pharisees  was  foretold  (Isa.  vi.  9,  10).  The  judicial  blinding  and  harden- 
ing spoken  of  in  the  second  citation  from  Isaiah  was  not  such  as  contravened  in  the 
least  degree  free  moral  agency,  but  was  of  a  kind  which  made  the  guilt  of  the  Jews 
in  rejecting  Christ  (by  which  their  blindness  and  hardness  were  but  the  more  fully 
demonstrated  and  intensified)  only  the  more  inexcusable  and  appalling.     He  blinded 
their  eyes  just  as  the  light  of  the  noonday  sun  is  painful  to  an  inflamed  diseased  eye. 


342  THE    LIFE   AND   WBITINGS    OF   ST.  JOHN. 

he  spake,  Lord,  who  hath  believed  our  report?  and  to  whom 

39  hath  the  arm  of  the  Lord  been  revealed  ?     Therefore  they  could 

40  not  believe,  because  that  Esaias  said  again,  He  hath  blinded 
their  eyes,  and  hardened  their  heart ;  that  they  should  not  see 
with  their  eyes,  nor  understand  with  their  heart,  and  be  converted, 

41  and  I  should  heal  them.      These  things   said  Esaias,  when  he 

42  saw  His  glory,  and  spake  of  Him.      Nevertheless  among  the 
chief  rulers  also  many  believed  l   on  Him ;  but  because  of  the 
Pharisees  they  did  not  confess  Him,  lest  they  should  be  put  out 

43  of  the  synagogue  :  for  they  loved  the  praise  of  men  more  than 

44  the  praise  of  God.     Jesus  cried 2  and  said,  He  that  believeth  on 

45  Me,  believeth  not  on  Me,  but  on  Him  that  sent  Me.      And  he 

46  that  seeth  Me  seeth  Him  that  sent  Me.  I  am  come  a  light  into  the 
world,  that  whosoever  believeth  on  Me  should  not  abide  in  dark- 

47  ness.  And  if  any  man  hear  My  words,  and  believe  not,  I  judge  him 
not :  for  I  came  not  to  judge  the  world,  but  to  save  the  world. 

48  He  that  rejecteth  Me,  and  receiveth  not  My  words,  hath  one 
that  judgeth  him  :  the  word  that  I  have  spoken,  the  same  shall 

49 judge  him  in  the  last  day.  For  I  have  not  spoken  of  Myself; 
but  the  Father  which  sent  Me,  He  gave  me  a  commandment, 

50  what  I  should  say,  and  what  I  should  speak.  And  I  know  that 
His  commandment  is  life  everlasting  :  whatsoever  I  speak  there- 
fore, even  as  the  Father  said  unto  Me,  so  I  speak. 

1  This  fact  is  stated  in  further  vindication  of  the  conclusive  character  of  the  evi- 
dence with  which  Jesus  surrounded  Himself  that  He  was  the  promised  Saviour.     All 
the  influence  of  their  associates  could  not  hinder  the  secret  belief  of  many.     In  some 
of  them  it  may  subsequently  have  ripened  into  a  true  and  living  faith. 

2  The  evangelist  here  puts  on  record  the  last  words  of  Jesus  before  proceeding  to 
those  interesting  discourses,  addressed  to  His  disciples   in  retirement,  and  which 
equally  attest  His  fitness  for  the  office  of  Saviour  of  the  world.     He  reaffirms  His 
oneness  with  the  Father  by  again  declaring  that  faith  in  Him  was  faith  in  God,  and 
that  to  see  Him  was  to  see  the  Father  that  sent  Him.     He  offers  salvation  to  these 
enemies  and  opposers  once  more,  by  telling  them  that  whosoever  believeth  on  Him 
should  not  abide  in  darkness,  and  that  He  came  not  to  judge  the  world  but  to  save 
the  world. 


ST.    JOHN    XIII.  343 


PART  SECOND. — 'Evidence  that  Jesus  is  the  Saviour  of  the  world, 
derived  from  His  intercourse  and  discourses  in  private  with  His 
chosen  friends ,  and  especially  as  seen  in  the  great  sacrifice  offered  by 
Him,  and  its  acceptance,  for  the  salvation  of  the  world. — Chapters 
XIII.  to  XXI. 

1.    The  self  sacrificing  spirit,  which  will  enable  the  disciples  of  Christ 
to  find  happiness  in  any  service,  however  humble,  which  brotherly  love  re- 
quires should  be  rendered  one  to  another. 
XIII.]  [Ver.  1-17. 

1  Now  before  the  feast  of  the  passover,  when  Jesus  knew  that 
His  hour  was  come  that  He  should  depart  out  of  this  world  unto 
the  Father,  having  loved  His  own  which  were  in  the  world,  He 

2  loved  them   unto  the  end.1      And  supper  being  ended/  the 
devil  having  now  put  into  the  heart  of  Judas  3  Iscariot,  Simon's 

3  son,  to  betray  Him ;   Jesus  knowing  that  the  Father  had  given 
all  things  into  His  hands,  and  that  He  was  come  from  God,  and 

4  went  to  God ;  He  riseth  4  from  supper,  and  laid  aside  His  gar- 

1  The  immediate  contemplation  of  His  own  sufferings  did  not  diminish  His  deep 
love  for  "  His  own,"  nor  the  manifestation  of  it. 

2  That  it  was  "  ended"  is  inconsistent  with  what  follows,  where  it  is  described  as 
going  on.  (See  verses  12  and  26.)     It  should  have  been  rendered,  "  the  supper  being 
ready,  or  about  to  begin,"  Selirvov  yevo^tvov  ;  the  Sinaitic  MS.  has  yivopfrov ;  and  the 
earliest  English  translation  (Wiclif's)  has,  "  and  whanne  the  souper  was  made,"  i.e. 
when  it  was  ready.      On  the  morning  of  the  day  on  which  the  passover  was  to  be 
eaten  at  evening,  two  of  the  disciples  were  sent  into  the  city  to  make  preparations 
for  that  feast.      Towards  evening  our  Lord,  with  the  rest  of  His  disciples,  followed ; 
and  when  the  hour  was  come,  which  was  after  sunset,  He  was  there  ready  to  sit 
down,  "  and  the  twelve  apostles  with  Him." 

3  A  second  preliminary  to  the  account  about  to  be  given  is  here  thrown  in.      The 
plot  was  all  ready,  the  instrument  prepared  for  the  chief  priests  and  Pharisees,  and  he 
was  present,  which  would  serve  to  give  greater  significance  to  the  acts  and  words  of 
the   Saviour.      We  learn  from  another  evangelist  that  a  contention  had  occurred 
among  the  apostles  as  to  which  of  them  should  be  greatest,  which  may  have  had 
reference  to  the  order  in  which  they  should  take  their  places  at  the  feast ;  or,  as 
they  had  no  servants,  the  strife  may  have  arisen  respecting  the  feet  washing,  who 
should  perform  this  humble  service,  which  usually  preceded  the  feast.  (Compare 
Luke  xxii.  26,  27.) 

4  He  had  taken  His  place  at  the  table,  when  the  bickering  that  was  going  on  among 
the  disciples  was  suddenly  arrested  by  His  rising  again  and  laying  aside  His  robe,  and 
while  deeply  conscious  of  the  dignity  of  His  person,  of  His  pre-existent  and  future 
glory  (verse  3),  proceeding  to  gird  Himself,  after  the  manner  of  a  servant,  with  a 
towel,  and  washing  their  feet.     It  was  an  act  intended  to  impress  on  their  minds  a 
lesson  of  mutual  kindness  and  service,  "  in  honour  preferring  one  another,"  which 
can  proceed  only  from  true  humility,  a  lesson  of  unspeakable  importance  in  such  a 


344  THE    LIFE    AND   WRITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

5  ments ;  and  took  a  towel,  and  girded  Himself.     After  that  He 
poureth  water  into  a  basin,  and  began  to  wash  the  disciples' 
feet,  and  to  wipe  them  with  the  towel  wherewith  He  was  girded. 

6  Then  cometh  He  to  Simon  Peter :  and  Peter  saith  unto  Him, 

7  Lord,  dost  Thou  wash  my  feet  ?    Jesus  answered  and  said  unto 
him,  What  I  do  thou  knowest  not  now;  but  thou  shalt  know 

8  hereafter.     Peter  saith  unto  Him,  Thou  shalt  never 1  wash  my 
feet.      Jesus  answered  him,  If  I  wash  thee  not,  thou  hast  no 

9  part  with  Me.     Simon  Peter  saith  unto  Him,  Lord,  not  my  feet 
10  only,  but  also  my  hands  and  my  head.     Jesus  saith  to  him,  He 

that  is  washed  needeth  not  save  to  wash  his  feet,  but  is  clean 2 

society  or  fraternity  as  He  was  establishing.  He  stooped  from  the  height  of  His 
Divine  position,  and,  as  a  most  expressive  act  of  self  abasement,  washed  the  feet  of 
His  unworthy  disciples.  He  was  affording  them  and  the  world  a  different  class  of 
proofs  that  He  was  the  promised  Saviour,  from  those  which  had  been  exhibited  to  the 
scribes  and  Pharisees  ;  or  we  see  in  His  private  intercourse  with  and  His  private  in- 
struction of  His  disciples  the  actual  exercise  of  His  office  as  the  Saviour  promised  to 
the  world.  He  was  not  a  mere  teacher  of  doctrines,  but  the  author  of  a  religion 
affecting  experimentally  the  heart,  and  practically  the  life  ;  and  the  proofs  now  to 
appear  are  such  as  demonstrate  His  fitness  for  the  office  He  had  assumed,  in  the 
means  He  appointed  and  employed  to  qualify  His  disciples  for  the  great  work  on 
which  He  sent  them,  and  thus  secure  the  salvation  of  the  world. 

1  The  impetuous,  demonstrative  character  of  this  disciple  manifested  itself,  as  on 
many  other  occasions.      With  words  of  mild  rebuke  Jesus  replies,  "  If  I  wash  thee 
not,  thou  hast  no  part  with  Me,"  doubtless  referring  to  that  of  which  the  washing 
was  only  significant, — moral  cleansing, — to  effect  which  He  was  about  to  condescend 
to  a  deeper  humiliation  than  that  which  so  disturbed  Peter,  even  of  the  cross  and 
the  grave.     In  mentioning  the  other  parts  of  his  body  to  which  he  would  have  the 
water  applied,  Peter  seems  to  have  had  some  idea  of  the  spiritual  cleansing  to  which 
Jesus  referred,  and  indicated  his  desire  for  it  to  be  applied  to  every  part  of  his  moral 
nature. 

2  We  understand  the  meaning  of  these  words  by  a  reference  to  the  ancient  cus- 
toms of  the  bath  and  the  mode  of  covering  the  feet.     The  whole  body  was  bathed 
before  the  principal  meal,  which  was  doubtless  observed  with  great  care  on  so  im- 
portant an  occasion  as  partaking  of  the  paschal  supper.     A  person  just  coming  from 
the  bath,  as  they  had  just  come,  did  not  need  to  bathe  again  ;  yet,  as  the  sandals 
worn  in  those  days  covered  but  a  part  of  the  foot,  he  could  not  travel  far  without 
having  occasion  for  the  use  of  water.     The  act  of  our  Saviour  therefore  not  only  set 
forth  in  the  most  striking  manner  the  duty  of   serving,  in  honour  preferring  our 
brethren  ;  but  it  was  designed  to  have  a  symbolic  significance.     We  are  not  to  sup- 
pose so  much  a  double  sense  as  to  recognise  a  symbolical  character  in  the  transac- 
tion ;  the  lesson  derived  in  this  way  was  also  specially  needed  by  the  disciples  at  this 
particular  juncture.     They  had  just  been  guilty  of  unseemly  contention,  although 
the  occasion  was  so  sacred  and  solemn.     They  were  to  be  sorely  tried  in  the  future, 
and  it  was  important  for  them  to  learn  that  the  sins  into  which  they  might  be 
betrayed  would  not  of  necessity  prove  that  they  were  never  in  a  state  of  grace  ;  and 
that  they  might  daily  receive  fresh  pardon  for  such  defilements.      And  the  same  is 
true  for  all  humanity :  those  who  have  been  morally  purified  or  regenerated  need  no 
repetition  of  the  purifying  process,  except  so  far  as  those  defilements  incident  to  a 


ST.    JOHN   XIII.  345 

11  every  whit :  and  ye  are  clean,  but  not  all.  For  He  knew  who 
should  betray l  Him ;  therefore  said  He,  Ye  are  not  all  clean. 

$  So  after  He  had  washed  their  feet,  and  had  taken  His  garments, 

and  was  set  down  again,  He  said  unto  them,  Know  ye  what  I 

3  have  done  to  you  ?     Ye  call  Me  Master  and  Lord  :  and  ye  say 

14 well;  for  so  I  am.  If  I  then,  your  Lord  and  Master,  have 
washed  your  feet ;  ye  also  ought  to  wash  one  another's  feet. 

1^  For  I  have  given  you  an  example,2  that  ye  should  do  as  I  have 

16  done  to  you.     Yerily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  The  servant  is  not 
greater  than  his  lord  ;  neither  he  that  is  sent  greater  than  he 

17  that  sent  him.     If  ye  know  these  things,  happy  are  ye  if  ye  do 
them. 

2.  Jesus  foretells  His  betrayal  by  Judas  Iscariot. 

[Ver.  18-30. 

18  I  speak  not  of  you  all :  I  know  3  whom  I  have  chosen  :  but 
that  the  scripture  may  be  fulfilled,  He  that  eateth.  bread  with 

19  Me  hath  lifted  up  his  heel  against  Me.     Now  I  tell  you  before 
it  come,  that,  when  it  is  come  to  pass,  ye  may  believe  4  that  I 

partially  sanctified  nature  are  concerned,  which,  like  the  dust  from  the  feet  of  a 
pilgrim,  would  require  to  be  cleansed  and  purified  through  the  pardoning  grace  of 
the  Eedeemer. 

1  Our  Lord  knew  as  perfectly  the  state  of  Judas  as  of  Peter ;  He  knew  that  he 
had  already  bargained  or  resolved  to  betray  Him.     And  as  Judas,  as  well  as  Peter  and 
the  rest,  received  the  external  act  of  washing,  it  is  evident  that  our  Lord  could  not 
have  referred  to  this  external  act  when  He  said  to  Peter,  "  If  I  wash  thee  not  thou 
hast  no  part  with  Me  "  ;  but  to  that  spiritual  cleansing  of  which  He  here  clearly 
speaks,  "  Ye  are  clean,  but  not  all." 

2  Are  we  to  understand  the  Saviour  as  instituting  a  rite  to  be  observed  in  the 
Christian  Church  ?    It  is  certain  the  primitive  Christians  did  not  so  understand 
Him  ;  for  they  do  not  appear  to  have  practised  such  a  rite.     The  custom  of  washing 
the  feet  held  in  ancient  times,  in  oriental  countries,  an  important  place  among  the 
duties  of  hospitality.     The  Saviour  simply  seizes  upon  this  to  enforce  brotherly 
kindness  and  charity,  and  to  rebuke  ambition  and  strife.     Nothing  could  be  more 
important  in  the  Church  He  was  about  to  establish  through  them. 

3  He  knew  who  truly  belonged  to  Him.     The  betrayal-  by  Judas  was  not  only 
foreseen  by  Jesus ;  it  had  been  foretold  by  Scripture.     The  quotation  is  from  Psalm 
xli.  9,  which,  although  it  primarily  relates  to  David  and  his  betrayer,  Ahithophel, 
was  designed  typically  to  mirror  forth  the  more  important  fact  of  the  Lord's  be- 
trayal.    Our  Lord  utters  a  prediction  concerning  the  fulfilment  of  a  prediction.     He 
did  not  point  to  a  prediction  as  having  had  its  fulfilment  in  Him,  but  to  one  unful- 
filled, declaring  it  was  now  to  be  accomplished/ 

4  Our  Lord  seems  gradually  to  have  approached  the  subject,  and  with  the  utmost 
delicacy  to  have  revealed  to  His  disciples  the  fact  that  one  of  their  number  should 
betray  Him.     It  was  necessary  He  should  prepare  their  minds  for  this  event.    It 
might  have  proved  a  stumblingblock,  had  it  appeared  that  Jesus  Himself  did  not 
know  Judas  but  had  been  deceived  by  Him.     By  foretelling,  however,  exactly  what 


34(5  THE    LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OP    ST.  JOHN. 

20am    He.     Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  He  that  receivetli1 
whomsoever  I  send  receiveth  Me ;  and  he  that  receiveth  Me 

21  receiveth  Him  that  sent  Me.     When  Jesus  had  thus  said,  He 
was  troubled 2  in  spirit,  and  testified,  and  said,  Verily,  verily,  I 

22  say  unto  you,  that  one  of  you  shall  betray  Me.     Then  the  dis- 
ciples looked  one  on  another,   doubting  of  whom  He  spake. 

23  Now  there  was  leaning  on  Jesus'  bosom 3  one  of  His  disciples, 

24  whom  Jesus  loved.     Simon  Peter  therefore  beckoned  to  him, 

25  that  he  should  ask  who  it  should  be  of  whom  He  spake.     He 
then  lying  on  Jesus'  breast  saith  unto  Him,  Lord,  who  is  it  ? 

26  Jesus  answered,  He  it  is,  to  whom  I  shall  give  a  sop,4  when  I 
have  dipped  it.'    And  when  He  had  dipped  the  sop,  He  gave  it 

27  to  Judas  Iscariot,  the  son  of  Simon.     And  after  the  sop  Satan 5 
entered  into  him.     Then  said  Jesus  unto  him,  That  thou  doest, 

28  do  6  quickly.     Now  no  man  at  the  table  knew  for  what  intent 

was  about  to  happen,  He  made  it  a  new  ground  or  fresh  support  of  their  faith.  He 
gives  them  a  distinct  account  beforehand  of  the  whole  matter.  And  in  the  record 
of  it,  by  the  Spirit  of  inspiration,  to  the  whole  world  was  given  a  new  evidence  that 
Jesus  was  what  He  claimed  to  be,  the  Divine  Son  of  God. 

1  The  meaning  seems  to  be  that  the  conduct  of  Judas  should  not  be  permitted  to 
detract  from  the  proper  authority  and  credentials  of  the  true  apostles  and  ministers 
of  Christ.     Even  "  they  that  had  received  Judas,"  says  Matthew  Henry,  "  when  a 
preacher,  and  perhaps  were  converted  and  edified  by  his  preaching,  were  never  the 

•  worse,  nor  should  reflect  upon  it  with  any  regret,  though  he  afterward  proved  a 
traitor  ;  for  he  was  one  whom  Christ  sent." 

2  The  presence  of  Judas  has  become  painful  and  oppressive,  and  He  speaks  out  in 
language  that  might  convince  that  disciple  his  treachery  was  known,  "  Verily,  verily, 
I  say,"  etc.   ' 

::  The  position  was  not  accidental,  it  indicated  the  intimacy  and  peculiar  affection 
between  the  Master  and  St.  John.  This  evangelist  gives  the  fullest  and  most  par- 
ticular account,  of  any  of  the  evangelists,  of  the  betrayal  by  Judas.  Several  of  the 
incidents  are  entirely  new;  e.g.,  those  relating  to  John's  position  on  the  bosom  of 
his  Master,  and  the  beckoning  of  Peter  to  him  to  ask  that  the  betrayer  might  be 
pointed  out. 

4  The  sop  was  a  morsel  of  bread,  broken  from  the  loaf  and  dipped  in  the  broth 
made  of  bitter  herbs.     This  giving  of  'the  sop,  it  has  been  noticed,  was  one  of  the 
closest  testimonials  of  friendly  affection. 

5  Up  to  this  moment  we  may  suppose  (see  Tholuck)  that  there  was  vacillation  in 
the  mind  of  Judas ;  but  Satan  now  took  complete  possession  of  him,  and  swayed 
him,  so  that  he  did  not  flinch  in  carrying  out  his  wicked  design,  his  agreement  with 
the  rulers  of  the  Jews  to  betray  Jesus.     It  was  when  his  purpose  was  fully  ripened 
and  fixed  within  him,  that  Satan  may  be  said  to  have  taken  full  possession  of  him. 
It  was  only  as  he  was  insensible  to  goodness,  unyielding  to  the  motives  that  were 
set  before  him,  and  permitted  himself  to  be  carried  away  by  his  cursed  love  of  gold, 
that  Satan  gained  this  advantage. 

6  ' '  His  direction  to  do  quickly  what  he  was  about  to  do  does  not  serve  in  any  sense 
to  exculpate  Judas.     It  was  not  a  command  or  direction  for  him  to  perform  the  act, 


ST.    JOHN   XIII.  347 

spake  this  unto  him.1     For  some  of  them  thought,  because 
Judas  had  the  bag,  that  Jesus  had  said  unto  him,  Buy  those 
things  that  we   have  need  of  against  the  feast ;    or,  that  he 
30  should  give  something  to  the  poor.     He  then,  having  received 
the  sop,  went  immediately  out ;  and  it  was  night.2 

3.  CHRIST,  in  His  final  instructions  to  His  followers  :  first,  in  removing 

their  perplexities  and  misqivinqs. 

XIIL  31.]  [XLV.  1-7. 

Therefore,  when  he  was  gone  out,  Jesus  said,  Now  is  the  Son 
&  of  man  glorified,3  and  God  is  glorified  in  Him.     If  God  be  glo- 
rified in  Him,  God  shall  also  glorify  Him  in  Himself,  and  shall 
53  straightway  glorify  Him.     Little  children,  yet  a  little  while  I 
am  with  you.     Ye  shall  seek  Me ;  and  as  I  said  unto  the  Jews, 
34  Whither  I  go,  ye   cannot 4  come ;    so  now  I  say  to  you.     A 

but,  having  fully  yielded  him/elf  up  to  Satan,  the  Saviour  could  do  him  no  more 
good,  and  desired  his  presence  no  longer.  It  is  to  be  noticed  also  that  he  goes 
forth  fully  aware  that  to  Jesus  at  least  his  whole  heart  lies  bare,  and  that  he 
performs  his  deed  of  treachery  in  the  direct  face  of  the  new  evidence,  from  the 
omniscience  of  our  Lord,  that  He  was  the  Son  of  God."  (See  Commentary  of 
Dr.  J.  J.  Owen.) 

1  It  is  probable  that  if  Peter,  John,  and  their  associates,  had  known  the  errand 
on  which  Judas  was  about  to  depart  they  would  have  attempted  to  interfere. 

2  There  can  be  no  doubt,  from  a  comparison  of  the  events   as  recorded  by  the 
several  evangelists,  that  Judas  retired  before  the  institution  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 
He  was  present  at  the  passover  and  not  at  the  Eucharist,  so  that  what  has  some- 
times been  said  that  a  hypocrite  was  present  at  the  first  celebration  of  the  Supper 
lacks  foundation.     When  he  went  out  the  night  had  fully  set  in.     It  was  the  dark 
and  gloomy  night  of  the  Saviour's  sorrow  and  agony  of  soul.     It  was  the  hour  of 
the  powers  of  darkness.     They  seemed  to  walk  the  earth  or  crowd  the  air  as 

,  perhaps  never  before,  gathering  in  all  their  number  and  might  for  the  fearful  onset 
that  was  now  to  be  made  on  the  Son  of  the  Highest.  It  was  night  over  Jerusalem  ; 
its  cup  of  indignation  was  rapidly  filling.  It  was  gloomy  night  in  the  soul  of  Judas, 
and  as  he  plunged  into  the  darkness  from  that  lighted  chamber  to  execute  his 
dreadful  crime,  "  it  was  to  grope  and  perish  in  the  yet  deeper  and  more  real  night  of 
his  own  spirit."  It  was  the  night  of  that  long  night  which  had  covered  the  earth, — 
the  midnight  which  preceded  the  dawn  of  a  bright  and  glorious  morn. 

8  No  sooner  had  the  door  closed  upon  Judas  than  the  Lord  gave  utterance  to  words 
of  joy  and  triumph.  His  spirit  rises  above  the  depressing  influences  around  Him,  and 
rejoices  in  light  even  on  that  dark  and  dreadful  night.  He  looks  beyond  His  suf- 
ferings to  the  bright  goal  in  the  future.  He  applied  Himself  at  once  to  those  final 
instructions  which  must  be  embraced  in  the  two  or  three  hours  that  remained 
before  His  agony  and  arrest  in  Gethsemane. 

4  He  had  said  something  quite  similar  to  this  to  the  unbelieving  Jews  (vii.  34, 
viii.  21) ;  but  the  exclusion  of  the  disciples  from  His  presence  was  not,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  Jews,  because  they  should  die  in  their  sins.  It  was  to  be  only  temporary,  as 
He  tells  them  shortly  after.  They  had  a  work  to  do  before  they  could  follow  Him 
to  His  glory. 


348  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OP   ST.  JOHN. 

new1  commandment  I  give  unto  you,  That  ye  love  one  another; 

35  as  I  have  loved  you,  that  ye  also  love  one  another.     By  this 
shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  My  disciples,  if  ye  have  love  one 

36  to  another.     Simon  Peter  3  said  unto  Him,  Lord,  whither  goest 
Thou  ?     Jesus   answered  him,  Whither  I  go,  thou  canst  not 

37  follow  Me  now ;  but  thou  shalt  follow  Me  afterwards.     Peter 
said  unto  Him,  Lord,  why  cannot    I  follow  Thee  now  ?     I  will 

38  lay  down  my  life  for  Thy  sake.    Jesus  answered  him,  Wilt  thou 
lay  down  thy  life  for  My  sake  ?    Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee, 
The  cock 3  shall  not  crow,  till  thou  hast  denied  Me  thrice. 

XIV.] 

1  Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled  :  4  ye  believe  in  God,  believe 5 

2  also  in  Me.     In  My  Father's  house  are  many  mansions  :   if  it 

1  The  key  note  of  those  instructions  now  to  be  given  (p.  347,  note  3)  was  con- 
tained in  this  "new  commandment."     As  a  source  of  strength  and  comfort  in  His 
absence,  to  this  love  for  one  another  He  gives  the  foremost  place.     It  is  called  new 
because  this  love  was  to  have  an  exhibition  according  to  the  example  of  Christ  and 
the  teachings  and  motives  set  before  us  in  His  gospel. 

It  was  at  this  point  it  would  seem,  before  fully  entering  upon  His  great  sacramental 
discourse,  that  the  Lord's  Supper  was  instituted.  It  is  remarkable  that  John  gives 
no  account  of  its  institution.  The  reason  may  have  been  that  it  had  been  given  so 
minutely  by  the  other  evangelists,  and  had  become  a  well  known  ordinance  in  the 
Christian  Church.  John  applies  himself  to  putting  on  record  a  discourse  omitted 
by  them,  in  which  we  find  evidence  of  the  establishment  of  just  such  a  rite  as  the 
Lord's  Supper. 

2  Peter  was  the  first  to  break  the  silence  which  followed  its  institution.      Re- 
curring to  the  words  of  the  Lord,  "  Whither  I  go  ye  cannot  come"  (verse  33),  he 
asked,  "  Lord,  whither  goest  Thou  ?  "     Jesus  takes  occasion  to  explain  what  He 
had  said  before,  that  He  simply  meant,  "Ye  cannot  go  along  with  Me  now.    Ye 
must  remain  awhile  on  earth.    Ye  have  a  work  to  do,  a  testimony  to  bear.     When 
that  work  as  My  faithful  witnesses  is  done,  ye  shall  follow  Me  and  be  partakers  of 
My  joy."     This  ought  to  have  satisfied  Peter,  but  with  his  characteristic  ardour 
he  asks  why  he  cannot  follow  now,  and  adds  in  a  spirit  of  boastful  confidence, 
but  no  doubt  with  the  utmost  sincerity,  that  he  was  ready  to  lay  down  his  life  for 
Christ. 

3  Here  comes  in  the  sad  record,  or  prophecy  rather,  of  the  sad  defection  of  this 
noble  spirited  yet  presumptuous  disciple.     It  is  given  more  at  large  by  Matthew, 
chap.  xxvi.  31-35  ;  and  by  Luke,  chap.  xxii.  31-33. 

4  He  does  not  mean  to  tell  them  that  they  had  no  real  trouble.     The  trouble  to 
which  He  referred,  and  for  which  He  sought  to  bring  them  support,  was  unquestion- 
ably doubt  or  misgiving  as  to  the  confidence  they  had  reposed  in  Him  as  the 
promised  Messiah.     They  had  just  heard  Him  talking  of  going  away,  that  they  all 
should  be  offended  because  of  Him,  one  of  their  number  should  betray  Him,  ano- 
ther deny  Him.     He  had  even  spoken  of  the  shedding  of  His  blood,  and  given  them 
a  memorial  to  be  observed  in  remembrance  of  His  sufferings.     He  who  needed  not 
that  any  should  testify  what  is  in  man  could  read  the  disquietude  and  misgiving  of 
their  hearts. 

5  There  is  special  reference  here  to  belief  in  Him  as  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 


ST.    JOHN   XIV.  849 

were  not  so,  I  would  have  told  you.     I  go1  to  prepare  a  place 

3  for  you.     And  if  I  go  and  prepare  2  a  place  for  you,  I  will  come 
again,3  and  receive  you  unto  Myself;  that  where  I  am,  there  ye 

4  may  be  also.     And  whither  I  go  ye  know,  and  the  way  ye 

5  know.     Thomas  saith  unto  Him,  Lord,  we  know  not  whither 

6  Thou  goest ;  and  how 4  can  we  know  the  way  ?     Jesus  saith 
unto  him,  I  am 5  the  way,  the  truth,  and    the  life  :   no  man 

7  cometh  unto  the  Father,  but  by  Me.     If  ye  had  known  Me,  ye 
should  have  known  My  Father 6  also  :  and  from  henceforth  ye 
know  Him,  and  have  seen  Him. 

4.  Proofs  of  His  Messiahship,  in  the  provision  made  for  His  continued 
presence,  in  the  mission  of  the  Holy  Comforter. 

[Ver.  8-31. 

Philip 7  saith  unto  Him,  Lord,  show  8  us  the  Father,  and  it  suf- 
}  ficeth  us.     Jesus  saith  unto  him,  Have  I  been  so  long  time  with 

1  Eecurring  to  the  question  of  Peter,  "Whither  goest  Thou?"    He  gives  them 
a  blessed  promise  on  which  to  rest.     He  gives  them  the  promise  of  heaven  under 
the  figure  of  an  everlasting  house,  a  sure  resting  place,  "  My  Father's  house."     Its 
many  mansions  are  numerous,  and  large  enough  for  the  many  sons  to  be  brought 
home  to  glory.     "  He  speaks,"  says  Luther,  "  as  he  must  who  would  charm  and 
win  the  simple." 

2  He  must  go  to  appear  in  our  nature,  our  Advocate  with  the  Father.     It  is  thus 
He  prepares  a  place  for  His  people. 

3  What  can  He  possibly  refer  to  but  His  advent  at  their  death,  to  receive  them  to 
Himself  ?    But  we  do  not  strain  the  sense  when  we  suppose  Christ  also  to  refer  to 
His  second  coming,  to  raise  the  dead  and  receive  His  servants  in  body  as  well  as 
spirit  to  Himself. 

4  This  second  question,  in  which  Thomas  is  the  spokesman,  serves  further  to 
give  direction  and  point  to  this  sacramental  discourse.     This  disciple  is  mentioned 
by  Matthew,  Mark,  and  Luke,  by  name  only  ;  and  this  is  one  of  the  three  incidents 
John  records  concerning  him.     Christ  seemed  to  Thomas  to  be  talking  of  the 
mysterious  and  unknown  ;  but  Jesus  replied  to  him  just  as  tenderly  as  to  Peter. 

5  He  did  not  claim  to  be  a  mere  guide  to  show  men  the  way,  but  the  Way  itself. 
He  claimed  also  that  perfect  Truth  might  for  once  be  seen  to  have  living  embodi- 
ment in  Him,  in  His  doctrine  and  example.     And  He  claimed  to  be  Life  itself. 

6  As  He  began  with  Peter  so  He  ends  with  Thomas,  by  referring  to  the  intimate 
union  and  oneness  of  the  Father  and  the  Son.     The  disciples  who  knew  and  had 
seen  Christ  are  expressly  told  that  they  knew  and  had  seen  the  Father.     This  is  the 
doctrine  of  which  He  made  so  great  use  with  the  chief  priests  and  Pharisees,  in 
claiming  for  Himself  the  great  office  of  Messiah. 

7  Our  Lord,  at  the  table  where  the  Supper  was  instituted,  having  answered  the 
questions  of  Peter  and  Thomas,  next  answered  those  of  Philip  and  Jude  ;    and  in 
His  answers  gave  revelations  well  suited  to  remove  all  their  perplexities  and  mis- 
givings as  to  the  character  in  which  they  had  professed  to  receive  Him  as  the 
Saviour  of  the  world.     Of  Philip  very  little  is  recorded  ;  but  that  little  presents  him 
to  us  in  an  engaging  light.     See  John  i.  43-46  ;  xii.  21,  22. 

8  What  did  Philip  mean  ?    There  can  be  little  doubt  he  meant,  although  it  is 


350  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

you,  and  yet  hast  thou  not  known  Me,  Philip  ?  He  that  hath 
seen  Me  hath  seen 1  the  Father ;  and  how  sayest  thou  tlien, 

10  Show  us  the  Father?  Belie  vest  thou  not  that  I  am  in  the  Father, 
and  the  Father  in  Me  ?  the  words  that  I  speak  unto  you  I  speak 
not  of  Myself  :  but  the  Father  that  dwelleth  in  Me,  He  doeth 

lithe  works.  Believe  Me  that  I  am  in  the  Father,  and  the 
Father  in  Me :  or  else  believe  Me  for  the  very  works'  sake. 

12  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  He  that  believeth  on   Me,  the 
works  2  that  I  do  shall  he  do  also ;    and  greater  worlds  than 

13  these  shall  he  do  ;  because  I  go  unto  My  Father.     And  what- 
soever ye  shall  ask3  in  My  name,4  that  will  I  do,  that  the 

14  Father  may  be  glorified  in  the  Son.     If  ye  shall  ask  anything 

15  in  My  name,  I  will  do  it.     If  ye  love 5  Me,  keep  My  command- 
impossible  he  could  have  understood  all  that  was  involved  in  his  request,  that  if 
Christ  would  show  to  their  bodily  sight  the  Father,  or  show  Himself  to  them  in  His 
Divinity  as  perceptibly  to  their  senses  as  he  had  in  His  humanity,  all  their  per- 
plexities would  be  removed. 

1  It  would  be  impossible  for  language  to  express  more  clearly  and  emphatically 
the  essential  unity  of  the  Father  and  the  Son.     He  exhorts  them  to  give  a  hearty 
reception  to  this  truth ;   it  would  enable  them  to  understand  the  great  purpose  of 
redemption,  and  to  see  how  ineffectual  would  be  all  the  attempts  of  His  enemies  to 
hinder  the  work  He  had  come  to  accomplish.     The  sight  of  Christ  is  the  nearest 
view  we  can  ever  have  of  God  the  Father. 

2  Christ  reminded  Thomas  and  his  fellow  disciples  of  the  wonderful  works  they 
had  seen  Him  perform,  -as  a  reason  why  they  should  believe  that  He  came  forth 
from  God,  and  was  God.     And  now,  as  He  was   about  to  leave  them  and  these 
works  were  to  cease,  and  their  hearts  were  filled  with  misgivings,  He  assures  them 
that  if  they  believed  in  Him  as  the  promised  Messiah,  with  an  unshaken  faith,  they 
should  have  the  power  of  performing  similar  miracles  ;   and  the  possession  of  this 
power  would  continue  to  bear  testimony  to  His  Messiahship.     He  goes  further, 
and  assures  them  that  they  shall  perform  even  greater  works.      Surely  He  did  not 
mean  that  they  should  perform  more  wonderful  miracles.     He  must  refer  to  the 
triumphs  of  the  gospel  under  their  preaching,  after  the  pouring  out  of  the.  Spirit, 
the  wonders  which  commenced  on  the  day  of  Pentecost.     These  would  be  better 
and  stronger  proofs  that  He  was  what  He  claimed  to  be,  the  Saviour  of  the  world  ; 
and  they  are  continued  from  age  to  age  in  the  Church.     How  suited  were  such 
words  to  reassure  the  hearts  of  His  timid  followers  ! 

3  Under  the  ministration  of  the  Spirit,  the  great  things  that  were  to  be  done 
were  to  be  done  in  answer  to  prayer.     This  was  to  be  the  secret  of  their  success. 

4  This  promise  has  but  a  single  limitation,  but  it  is  one  of  the  greatest  moment, 
"  In  My  name  " ;  i.e.,  this  prayer  can  be  offered  only  by  one  who  is  in  abiding  union 
with  Christ,  who  depends  on  His  power  alone,  and  makes  His  glory  his  supreme 
object. 

5  With  faith  they  must  unite  love ;  and  they  must  give  evidence  of  the  genuine- 
ness of  their  faith  by  the  love  that  manifests  [itself  in  obedience.    He  had  said  so 
much  about  the  necessity  of  believing  that  it  became  necessary  to  present  this 
practical  test  as  to  its  genuineness.    It  is  with  faith  as  thus  attested,  that  the  great 
promise  stands  connected. 


ST.   JOHN  XIV.  351 

laments.     And  I  will  pray  the  Father,  and  He  shall  give  you 
another  Comforter, 1  that  He  may  abide  with  you  for  ever  ; 

17  even  the   Spirit 3  of   truth ;    whom  the  world   cannot  receive, 
because  it  seeth  Him  not,  neither  knoweth  Him  :    but  ye  know 

18  Him  ;  for  He  dwelleth  with  you,  and  shall  be  in  you.     I  will 

19  not  leave  you  comfortless  : 3  I  will  come  to  you.     Yet  a  little 
while,  and  the  world  seeth  Me  no  more  ;  but  ye  see  4  Me  :  be- 


1  He  had  announced  the  gift  of  the  Spirit  before,  but  less  distinctly  (see  chap, 
vii.  37-39).  But  it  was  only  as  He  came  to  address  His  followers  for  the  last  time 
before  His  crucifixion,  that  He  fully  acquainted  them  with  the  mission  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  All  that  He  had  to  say  in  this  pathetic  farewell  seemed  to  converge  and 
concentrate  in  this  blessed  promise,  so  that  this  discourse  with  all  its  heavenly 
counsels  is  made  to  be,  so  to  speak,  the  beautiful  and  fitting  frame  for  this  picture, 
the  costly  setting  for  this  precious  gem.  That  development  of  revealed  doctrine  in 
general,  which  has  been  observed  in  the  Scriptures  as  a  whole  (see  the  admirable 
volume  of  Bampton  Lectures,  "  The  Progress  of  Doctrine  in  the  New  Testament,"  by 
the  Kev.  T.  H.  Bernard,  M.A.)  will  be  found  to  hold  true  in  a  particular  instance, 
in  a  remarkable  degree,  in  regard  to  this  doctrine  of  the  Spirit,  as  presented  in 
these  last  words  of  Christ.  We  require  the  full  statement  of  our  Saviour,  as 
brought  together  in  the  several  passages,  in  the  order  in  which  they  occur,  if  we 
would  fully  understand  this  doctrine  and  appreciate  its  importance. 

The  term  "  another."  which  is  joined  to  "Comforter,"  suggests  not  only  what 
this  promised  Agent  was  to  be,  but  what  Christ  Himself  had  been,  or  what  this 
Agent  was  to  be  by  what  Christ  had  been,  a  Comforter.  It  is  full  of  meaning  that 
this  very  title,  one  so  peculiar,  ITapd/cX^Tos,  Paraclete,  is  by  St.  John  elsewhere  ap- 
lied  to  Christ  Himself  (1  John  ii.  1),  where  it  is  translated  "  Advocate."  The  name 
itself  is  something  new.  When  John  employs  it  in  his  First  Epistle,  in  application 
to  Christ  as  our  Intercessor  on  high,  Christ  is  presented  as  one  who  propitiates  the 
justice  of  God,  and  is  thus  the  procuring  cause  of  the  highest  comfort  to  men,  even 
their  salvation.  Here  Christ  Himself  speaks,  and  expressly  applies  it  to  another. 
The  Aversions  of  Wicklif,  Tyndale,  Cranmer,  and  the  Geneva,  as  well  as  the 
A.  V.,  all  have  "  Comforter."  A  term  comprehensive,  expressive  of  tenderness, 
and  at  the  same  time  of  the  kind  of  help  afforded,  even  though  it  too  should  be 
new  and  unusual,  is  demanded,  because  the  offices  of  the  promised  Visitant 
and  Abider,  so  manifold,  and  which  the  Saviour  proceeds  to  describe,  are  all 
referred  to.  The  original  signification,  one  ivho  is  summoned  for  aid,  is  merged  in 
that  of  COMFOBTEB,  which  is  suited  not  only  to  the  circumstances  in  which  the 
promise  was  first  given,  but  to  the  place  the  Holy  Spirit  fills  in  the  Church,  in  all 
ages,  in  the  absence  of  its  glorious  Head.  The  Spirit  of  inspiration  seems,  in  a 
wonderful  manner,  to  have  presided  over  the  transfer  of  this  term  into  our  English 
Bible. 

2  That  they  might  not  be  left  to  make  any  mistake,  Christ  goes  on  to  tell  them 
who  the  Comforter  is,  "  even  the  Spirit  of  truth  "  ;  because  as  the  manifestation  of 
Deity  He  is  the  truth,  and  imparts  the  truth,  not  only  as  a  power  in  the  understand- 
ings but  in  the  hearts  of  men. 

3  Or  orphans,  as  it  is  in  the  margin. 

4  Although  deprived  of  His  bodily  presence,  they  were  to  enjoy  His  spiritual 
presence,  and  because  He  lived  their  spiritual  life  was  to  receive  a  new  develop- 
ment and  impulse,  by  His  promised  presence  through  the  Spirit. 


352  THE    LIFE   AND    WRITINGS    OP   ST.  JOHN. 

20  cause  I  live,  ye  shall  live  also.     At  that  'day l  ye  shall  know 

21  that  I  am  in  My  Father,  and  ye  in  Me,  and  I  in  you.     He  that 
hath  My   commandments,  and    keepeth    them,  he  it    is    that 
loveth  Me:    and   he  that  loveth    Me  shall    be  loved  of    My 
Father,  and    I  will  love   him,  and    will  manifest    Myself  to 

22  him.     Judas2  saith  unto  Him,  not  Iscariot,  Lord,  how  is  it 
that  Thou  wilt  manifest  Thyself   unto  us,   and  not  unto  the 

23  world  ?     Jesus    answered   and  said  unto  him,  If    a  man   love 
Me,  he  will  keep  My  words :  and  My  Father  will  love  him, 
and  we   will  come  unto  him,  and  make  our  abode  with  him. 

24 He  that   loveth  Me  not  keepeth  not  My  sayings:    and    the 
word  which  ye  hear  is  not  Mine,  but  the  Father's  which  sent 

25  Me.     These  things  have  I  spoken  unto  you,  being  yet  present 

26  with  you.    But  the  Comforter,  which  is  the  Holy  Grhost, 3  whom 
the  Father  will  send  in  My  name,  He  shall  teach  you  all  things, 
and  bring  all  things  to  your  remembrance,  whatsoever  I  have 

27  said  unto  you.     Peace  4  I  leave  with  you,  My  peace  I  give  unto 


1  That  is,  in  the  day  of  the  promised  advent  of  the  Spirit  they  should  know, 
every  lingering  doubt  should  be  dissipated,  and  they  should  "know"  of  the  unity 
of  the  Son  with  the  Father,  or  of  their  mutual  indwelling,  and  the  indwelling  of 
Christ  in  their  own  hearts. 

2  Judas   proposes   the  fourth   question.      He    is  carefully   distinguished    from 
the  betrayer,  who  had  gone  out,  and  is  elsewhere  called  Lebbasus  or  Thaddseus  (Matt. 
x.  4,  Mark  iii.  18).     The  point  of  his  question  was  to  ascertain  how  the  manifesta- 
tion of  Jesus  could  be  restricted  to  His  disciples,  and  at  the  same  time  reconciled  to 
that  public  display  which  he  supposed  would  attend    the  establishment  of  His 
kingdom.     What  sort  of  a  manifestation  was  that  to  be,  of  which  the  world  was  to 
be  kept  ignorant  ?     Our  Lord,  instead  of  furnishing  a  reply  to  Jude,  suited  to  vain 
hopes  of  worldly  grandeur,  simply  explained  the  nature  of   the  manifestation  of 
which  He  had  spoken.     The  expression  He  had  used,  "  will  manifest,"  was  indeed 
one  of  strong  import,  its  literal  signification  being  to  show  forth,  make  plain.     In 
Matthew  xxvii.  53  it  is  employed  of  the  saints  who  came  forth  from  the  grave  after 
our  Lord's  resurrection.     But  it  here  points  to  a  spiritual  showing  or  appearing,  as 
it  is  made  conjointly  with  the  invisible  Father,  and  has  reference  not  to  the  world 
but  to  individual  believers.     The  promise  is  of  infinite  and  marvellous  condescen- 
sion and  comprehension.     "  There  is  no  promise,"  says  Stier,  "  greater  and  higher 
for  man." 

3  He  further  unfolds  the  doctrine  of  the  Comforter.     Before  called  the  Spirit  of 
truth,  He  is  now  called  the  Holy  Ghost.     The  Father  was  to  send  Him  in  the  name 
of  Christ,  and  He  was  to  teach  them  and  bring  all  things  to  their  remembrance, 
which  they  had  heard  from  Christ.     This  would  be  indispensable  to  them  as  living 
and  inspired  witnesses  for  Christ. 

4  Well  might  the  Saviour  say  this,  in  view  of  such  a  manifestation  of  Himself  as 
He  would  make  after  His  departure,  in  view  of  such  a  promise  and  such  a  coming, 
in  virtue  of  which  they  would  know  Him  as  they  never  knew  Him  before,  and 
repeat  His  words,  "  Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled." 


ST.   JOHN   XV.  353 

you :    not  as  the  world    giveth,  give    I  unto  you.      Let   not 

28  your  heart   be  troubled,  neither  let  it   be  afraid.      Ye  have 
heard  how  I  said  unto  you,  I  go  away,  and  come  again  unto 
you.     If  ye  loved  Me,  ye  would  rejoice,1  because  I  said,  I  go 

29  unto  the  Father :  for  My  Father  is  greater  than  I.    And  now 
I  have  told  you  before  it  come  to  pass,  that,  when  it  is  come 

30  to  pass,  ye  might    believe.      Hereafter  I  will  not   talk  much 
with    you  :    for  the  prince  of    this  world  cometh,  and    hath 

31  nothing  in  Me.      But  that  the  world  may  know  that  I  love 
the  Father;    and  as  the  Father  gave  Me  commandment,  even 
so  I  do.     Arise,2  let  us  go  hence. 

5.  Strength  and  comfort,  from  union  with  Christ  absent,  by  faith, 

through  the  Spirit. 
XV.]  [Ver.  1-27. 

1  I  am  the   true   vine, 3  and  My  Father  is  the  husbandman. 

2  Every  branch  in  Me  that  beareth  *  not  fruit  He  taketh  away  : 
and  every  branch  that  beareth  fruit,  He  purgeth  it,  that  it  may 

3  bring  forth  more  fruit.     Now  ye  are  clean  through  the  word 

1  He  tells  them  it  would  be  a  proof  of  love  to  Him  if  they  were  to  rejoice  rather 
than  be  sad. 

2  He  invites  them  to  arise  from  the  table,  and  prepare  to  go  forth. 

3  Having  risen  preparatory  to  going  forth  from  the  chamber  and  the  city,  while  in 
a  standing  posture,  as  they  still  lingered  around  the  table,  the  remainder  of  the  vale- 
dictory discourse  in  the  two  succeeding  chapters,  and  the  intercessory  prayer  in  the 
seventeenth  chapter,  seem  to  have  been  pronounced,  and  the  hymn  of  which  Matthew 
and  Mark  make  mention  sung.   Our  Lord  seizes  upon  a  striking  allegory,  of  the  vine  and 
its  branches,  designed  to  set  forth  the  intimate  relation  of  His  followers  to  Him,  and 
their  dependence  on  Him.     His  object  is  still  to  comfort  them.     The  allegory  was 
perhaps  suggested  by  the  branch  of  a  vine,  with  signs  of  bearing,  which  had  clam- 
bered within  the  room.     The  vine  to  which  it  belonged  was  out  of  sight,  trained 
along  the  side  of  the  house,  invisible  in  the  darkness  of  the  night.     He  had  told  His 
disciples  that  He  was  soon  to  depart,  to  be  seen  no  more  on  earth ;  and  their  hearts 
were  filled  with  sadness.     "  See,"  He  says,  "  this  little  grape  branch :  it  is  living,  and 
has  fruit  or  gives  promise  of  fruit,  because  it  is  connected  with  a  living  vine  rooted 
in  the  earth.     You  cannot  see  the  vine,  nor  the  point  at  which  the  branch  unites 
with  it,  nor  understand  the  process  involved  in  its  growth  and  fructuation."     We 
seem  to  hear  the  vine  in  the  allegory  talking  and  saying  to  the  little  branch:   "  you 
cannot  bear  fruit,  nor  live  even,  separated  from  me.     Do  not  forget  that  you  have 
your  life  and  derive  all  your  verdure  and  luxuriance  from  me,  invisible  here  in  the  cold 
and  darkness."     So,  says  Christ,  I  am  the  vine,  ye  are  the  branches  ;  and  although  I 
pass  from  the  light  of  the  world,  as  into  the  gloom  and  coldness  of  the  night  of  the 
tomb,  My  true  disciples  will  abide  still  in  Me  ;  this  abiding  is  not  only  essential  to 
their  vigorous  life  and  fruitfulness,  but  to  life  itself. 

4  The  fruitless  branch  has  no  permanent  relation  to  the  living  vine.     The  fruitful 
branch  is  made  more  fruitful  by  pruning. 

2  A 


354  THE    LIFE   AND    WRITINGS    OP    ST.  JOHN. 

4  which  I  have  spoken  unto  you.     Abide  in  Me,  and  I  .in  you. 
As  the  branch  cannot  bear  fruit  of  itself,  except  it  abide  in  the 

5  vine ;  no  more  can  ye_,  except  ye  abide  in  Me.     I  am  the  vine, 
ye  are  the  branches.     He  that  abideth  in  Me,  and  I  in  him, 
the  same  bringeth  forth  much  fruit ;  for  without  Me  ye  can  do 

6  nothing.     If  a  man  abide  not  in  Me,   he  is  cast  forth   as   a 
branch,  and  is  withered ;  and  men  gather  them,  and  cast  them 

7  into  the  fire,  and  they  are  burned.     If  ye  abide  in  Me,  and  My 
words  abide  in  you,  ye  shall  ask l  what  ye  will,  and  it  shall  be 

8  done  unto  you.     Herein  is  My  Father  glorified,  that  ye  bear 

9  much  fruit ;  so  shall  ye  be  My  disciples.     As  the  Father  hath 

10  loved  Me,  so  have  I  loved  you  :  continue  ye  in  My  love.     If 
ye  keep  My  commandments,  ye  shall  abide  in  My  love ;  even 
as  I  have  kept  My  Father's  commandments,  and  abide  in  His 

11  love.     These  things  have  I  spoken  unto  you,  that  My  joy  might 

12  remain  in  you,  and  that  your  joy 2  might  be  full.     This  is  My 
commandment,3  That  ye   love   one   another,  as   I  have  loved 

13  you.     Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this,  that  a  man  lay  down 

14  his  life  for  his  friends.     Ye  are  My  friends,  if  ye  do  whatsoever 
15 1  command  you.     Henceforth  I  call  you  not  servants  ;  for  the 

servant  knoweth  not  what  his  lord  doeth  :  but  I  have  called 
you  friends ;  for  all  things  that  I  have  heard  of  My  Father  I 

16  have  made  known  unto  you.     Ye  have  not  chosen  Me,   but  I 
have  chosen  you,  and  ordained  you,  that  ye  should  go  and  bring 
forth  fruit,  and  that  your  fruit  should  remain ;  that  whatsoever 
ye  shall  ask  of  the  Father  in  My  name,  He  may  give  it  you. 

17  These   things    I    command   you,    that   ye   love  one  another. 

18  If  the  world  hate 4  you,  ye  know  that  it  hated  Me  before  it 

19  hated  you.     If  ye  were  of  the  world,  the  world  would  love  his 
own;  but  because  ye  are  not  of  the  world,  but>  I  have  chosen 

20  you  out  of  the  world,  therefore  the  world  hateth  you.     Rernem- 

1  Another  great  effect  attributed  to  this  abiding  in  Christ,  in  addition  to  fruitf illness, 
is  the  efficacy  or  effectualness  of  prayer.     We  take  the  words  of  the  promise  precisely 
as  they  stand,  as  literally  true,  true  in  every  particular,  and  in  every  individual  case, 
as  true  in  the  limitations  as  in  the  breadth  and  extent  of  the  promise. 

2  Another  effect  of  abiding  in  Christ  should  be  peace  and  joy. 

3  Christ  had  commenced  His  discourse,  after  the  washing  of  His  disciples'  feet,  in 
rebuke  of  their  contentious  spirit,  and  after  the  departure  of  Judas  on  his  hostile 
and  cruel  errand,  with  what  He  called  His  new  commandment,  and  which  He  here 
repeats  and  enforces.     In  His  absence  they  were  only  to  love  one  another  the  more. 

4  He  enforces  this  love  by  an  additional  consideration,  the  hatred  of  the  world,  to 
which  they  would  certainly  be  exposed. 


ST.    JOHN    XVI.  355 

ber  the  word  that  I  said  unto  you,  The  servant  is  not  greater 
than  his  lord.  If  they  have  persecuted  Me,  they  will  also 
persecute  you;  if  they  have  kept  My  saying,  they  will  keep 

21  yours  also.     But  all  these  things  will  they  do  unto  you  for  My 

22  name's  sake,  because  they  know  not  Him  that  sent  Me.     If 
I  had  not  come  and  spoken  unto  them,  they  had  not  had  sin ; 

23  but  now  they  have  no  cloak  for  their  sin.     He  that  hateth  Me 

24  hateth  My  Father  also.     If  I  had  not  done  among  them  the 
works  which  none  other  man  did,  they  had  not  had  sin  :  but 
now  have  they  both  seen  and  hated  both  Me  and  My  Father. 

25  But  this  cometh  to  pass,  that  the  word  might  be  fulfilled  that 

26  is  written  in  their  law,  They  hated  Me  without  a  cause.     But 
when  the  Comforter 1  is  come,  whom  I  will  send  unto  you  from 
the  Father,  even  the  Spirit  of  truth,  which  proceedeth  from  the 

27  Father,  He  shall  testify  of  Me  :  and  ye  also  shall  bear  witness, 
because  ye  have  been  with  Me  from  the  beginning. 


6.  Doctrine  concerning  the  mission  of  the  Holy  Comforter  ftdly 

developed. 

XVI.]  [Yer.  1-33. 

These  things 3  have  I  spoken  unto  you,  that  ye  should  not  be 

2  offended.       They    shall    put    you    out    of    the    synagogues : 3 
yea,  the  time  cometh,  that  whosoever  killeth  you  will  think 

3  that  he  doeth  God  service.4     And  these  things  will  they  do 
unto  you,  because  they  have  not  known  the  Father,  nor  Me. 

4  But  these  things  have  I  told  you,  that  when  the  time  shall 
come,  ye  may  remember  that  I  told  you  of  them.     And  these 
things  I  said  not  unto  you  at  the  beginning,  because  I  was 

5  with  you.     But  now  I  go  My  way  to  Him  that  sent  Me  ;  and 

1  Christ  now  recurs  to  that  great  promise  about  which  everything  else  seems  to 
revolve  in  this  discourse,  and  further  expands  it.     It  is  worthy  of  particular  note 
that  He  Himself  here  promises  to  send  what  He  had  before  said  the  Father  would 
send,  and  what  He  would  pray  the  Father  to  send. 

2  The  manner  in  which  the  doctrine  of  the  Comforter  has  been  gradually  de- 
veloped has  been  noticed.     In  this  chapter  we  find  it  expanded  in  all  its  completeness. 
"  These  things"  refer  to  what  He  had  just  told  them  respecting  the  hatred  of  the 
world  towards  them  (xv.  18-19),  and  the  support  they  were  to  derive  under  it  from 
the  presence  of  the  Comforter  (xv.  26-27). 

3  This  excommunication  struck  the  greatest  terror  into  the  Jewish  mind. 

4  If  Saul  of  Tarsus  is  not  here  distinctly  foretold,  nevertheless  according  to  his 
own  testimony  we  have  in  him  a  fulfilment  to  the  very  letter  of  these  words :  Acts 
xxvi.  9-11. 


356  THE    LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

6  none  of  you  asketh  Me,  Whither l  goest  Thou  ?     But  because 
I  have  said  these  things  unto  you,  sorrow  hath  filled  your  heart. 

7  Nevertheless  3  I  tell  you  the  truth ;  It  is  expedient  for  you  that 
I  go  away :  for  if  I  go  not  away,  the  Comforter  will  not  come 

8  unto  you ;  but  if  I  depart,  I  will  send  Him  unto  you.     And 
when  He  is  come,  He  will  reprove 3  the  world  of  sin,   and  of 

9  righteousness,  and  of  judgment :    of  sin,  because  they  believe 

10  not  on  Me  ;  of  righteousness,  because  I  go  to  My  Father,  and  ye 

11  see   Me  no  more  -,     of  judgment,  because  the   prince  of  this 

12  world  is  judged.     I  have  yet  many  things  to  say  unto  you,  but  ye 

13  cannot  bear  them  now.     Howbeit  when  He,  the  Spirit  of  truth, 
is  come,  He  will  guide 4  you  into  all  truth  :  for  He  shaM  not 
speak  of  Himself ;  but  whatsoever  He  shall  hear,  that  shall  He 

14  speak :    and   He   will   show  you   things   to   come.     He   shall 
glorify  Me  :  for  He  shall  receive  of  Mine,  and  shall  show  it  unto 

15  you.     All  things  that  the  Father  hath  are  Mine  :    therefore 
said  I,  that  He  shall  take  of  Mine,  and  shall  showit  unto  you. 

16  A  little  while,  and  ye  shall  not  see  Me  :  and  again,  a  little  while, 

17  and  ye  shall  see  Me,  because  I  go  to  the  Father.     Then  said 
some  of  His  disciples  among  themselves,  What  is  this   that  He 
saith  unto  us,  A  little  while,  and  ye  shall  not  see  Me :  and 
again,  a  little  while,  and   ye   shall  see  Me :  and,   Because  I 

1  As  this  question  is  identical  with  that  asked  by  Peter  (xiii.  36),  it  must  be 
understood  in  another  and  deeper  sense.     Sorrow  had  filled  their  minds  at  His 
departure,  and  nene  of  them  as  yet  had  any  conception  of  the  great  spiritual  end  to 
be  attained  by  His  leaving  them. 

2  He  here  completes  His  instructions  concerning  the  Comforter.     The  withdrawal 
of  His  personal  presence  was  necessary,  and  He  teaches  His  disciples  that  the 
coming  of  the  Spirit  was  of  greater  importance  to  them  than  His  personal  presence 
with  all  His  miraculous  power. 

3  The  word  reprove  is  too  weak :  He  will  convince,  convict,  the  world  of  three 
things  ;  sin,  righteousness,  and  judgment.     "All  these  are  unreal  and  impractical 
till  the  £Xe7%os  of  the  Spirit  has  wrought  in  him  "  (Alford).     The  Holy  Spirit,  in 
convincing  men  of  sin  and  leading  them  to  a  spotless  righteousness  which  enables 
them  to  judge  justly  of  themselves  and  to  contemplate  the  judgment  day  with  hope, 
and  in  judging  and  condemning  unbelievers,  is  a  Witness  of  and  for  Christ,  and  a 
blessed  Comforter  to  His  followers.     It  was  calculated  to  be  a  source  of  unspeak- 
able joy  to  the  little  band,  whom  Jesus  was  about  to  leave  in  an  unfriendly  world, 
that  He  would  send  the  Spirit,  who  should  give  their  testimony  an  energy  which 
would  cause  it  to  reach  the  very  consciences  and  hearts  of  men. 

4  To  the  apostles  themselves  He  was  to  be  the  Spirit  of  inspiration  and  prophecy. 
By  a  direct  influence  on  their  minds  the  Spirit  was  to  bear  witness  still  further  to 
Christ,  by  guiding  them  into  the  domain  of  His  truth,  and  enabling  them  to  unfold 
what  He  had  communicated  in  the  barest  outline,  or  in  detached  sentences,  for  the 
instruction  of  the  world  in  all  ages. 


ST.    JOHN    XVI.  357 

*8  go  to  the  Father  ?     They  said  therefore,  What  is  this  that  He 

!9  saith,    A  little  while  ?  we   cannot  tell  what  He   saith.     Now 

Jesus  knew  that  they  were  desirous  to  ask  Him,  and  said  unto 

them,  Do  ye  inquire  among  yourselves  of  that  I  said,  A  little 

while,  and  ye  shall  not  see  Me  :  and  again,  a  little  while,   and 

20  ye  shall  see  Me  ?     Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  That  ye  shall 
weep  and  lament,  but  the  world  shall  rejoice  j  and  ye  shall  be 

21  sorrowful,  but  your  sorrow  shall  be  turned  into  joy.1     A  woman 
when  she  is  in  travail  hath  sorrow,  because  her  hour  is  come : 
but  as  soon  as  she  is  delivered  of  the  child,  she  remembereth 
no  more  the  anguish,  for  joy  that  a  man  is  born  into  the  world. 

22  And  ye  now  therefore  have  sorrow :  but  I  will  see  you  again, 
and  your  heart  shall  rejoice,  and  your  joy  no  man  taketh  from 

!3  you.     And  in  that  day  ye  shall  ask3  Me  nothing.    Verily,  verily, 
I  say  unto  you,  Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  the  Father  in  My  name, 

24  He   will   give   it    you.      Hitherto 3    have    ye    asked    nothing 
in  My  name  :  ask,  and  ye  shall  receive,  that  your  joy  may  be 

25  full.     These  things  have  I  spoken  unto  you  in  proverbs  :  but 
the  time  cometh,  when  I  shall  no   more   speak  unto  you  in 

26  proverbs,  but  I  shall  show  you  plainly  of  the  Father.     At  that 
day  ye  shall  ask  in  My  name  :  and  I  say  not  unto  you,   that  I 

27  will  pray  the  Father  for  you :   for  the  Father  Himself  loveth 
you,  because  ye  have  loved  Me,  and  have  believed  that  I  came 

28  out  from  God.     I  came  forth  from  the  Father,  and  am  come 
into  the  world :  again,  I  leave  the  world,  and  go  to  the  Father. 

29  His  disciples  said  unto  Him,  Lo,  now  speakest  Thou  plainly, 

30  and  speakest  no  proverb.     Now  are  we  sure  that  Thou  knowest 
all  things,  and  needest  not  that  any  man  should  ask   Thee  :  by 

31  this  we  believe  that  Thou  earnest  forth  from  God.     Jesus  an- 

32  swered  them,  Do  ye  now  believe  ?     Behold,  the  hour  cometh, 
yea,  is  now  come,  that  ye  shall  be  scattered,4  every  man  to  his 

1  That  is,  when  He  should  be  restored  to  them  again  by  His  resurrection  from  the 
dead,  and  when  they  should  be  made  to  know  the  power  of  His  resurrection  and 
enjoy  that  spiritual  presence  promised  by  His  return  to  His  Father. 

2  He  did  not  mean  that  there  should  be  no  more  occasion  for  prayer,  but  that 
there  would  be  nothing  left  for  them  to  wish,  or  ask,  for  their  encouragement  or 
success  in  their  work. 

3  Hitherto  they  had  asked  nothing  in  His  name,  or  as  they  would  ask  with  that 
prevailing  power  after  His  atoning  death,  and  appearance  as  the  great  High  Priest 
in  the  holy  of  holies. 

4  Keferring  doubtless  to  their  flight,  which  was  to  take  place  that  very  night  in 
the  garden. 


358 


THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF   ST.  JOHN. 


own,  and  shall  leave  Me  alone  :  and  yet  I  am  not  alone,  because 

33  the  Father  is  with  Me.     These  things  I  have  spoken  unto  you, 

that  in  Me  ye  might  have  peace.     In  the  world  ye  shall  have 

tribulation  :  but  be  of  good  cheer;  I  have  overcome l  the  world. 

7.  Messiah's  prayer  for  His  followers. 
XVII.]  [Ver.1-26. 

1  These  words  spake  Jesus,  and  lifted  up  His  eyes  to  heaven, 
and  said,  Father,  the  hour  is  come;  glorify2  Thy    Son,  that 

2  Thy  Son  also  may  glorify  Thee :    as  Thou  hast  given   Him 
power  over  all  flesh,  that  He  should  give  eternal  life  to  as  many 

3  as  Thou  hast  given  Him.     And  this  is  life  eternal,  that  they 
might  know  Thee  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ,  whom 

4  Thou  hast  sent.     I  have  glorified  Thee  on  the  earth  :  I  have 

5  finished  the  work  which  Thou  gavest  Me  to  do.     And  now,  0 
father,  glorify  Thou  Me  with  Thine  own  self  with  the  glory 

6  which  I  had  with  Thee  before  the  world  was.     I  have  mani- 
fested Thy  name  unto  the  men  which  Thou  gavest  Me  out  of 
the  world  :  Thine  they  were,  and  Thou  gavest  them  Me ;  and 

7  they  have  kept  Thy  word.     Now  they  have  known  that  all 

8  things  whatsoever  Thou  hast  given  Me  are  of  Thee.     For   I 
have  given  unto  them  the  words  which  Thou  gavest  Me ;  and 
they  have  received  them,  and  have  known  surely  that  I  came 
out  from  Thee,  and  they  have  believed  that  Thou  didst  send 

9  Me.     I  pray  for  them  :  I  pray  not  for  the  world,  but  for  them 
10  which  Thou  hast  given  Me  ;  for  they  are  Thine.     And  all  Mine 

are  Thine,  and  Thine  are  Mine;  and  I  am  glorified  in  them. 

H  And  now  I  am  no  more  in  the  world,  but  these  are  in  the  world, 

and  I  come  to  Thee.     Holy  Father,  keep 3  through  Thine  own. 

1  The  ground  of  all  confidence  and  hope  is  in  the  victory  of  Christ  over  the 
world.     This  farewell  discourse  .of  Jesus  has  afforded  consolation  to  believers  in  all 
ages  and  in  all  conditions  of  life.     In  no  other  portion  of  the  word  of  God  is  the 
soul  brought  into  more  sensible  contact  with  the  blessed  Saviour. 

2  He  first  prays  for  Himself ;  that  He  might  be  glorified  was  the  single  petition 
He  offered  in  His  own  behalf.     The  Son  prays  that  the  Father  would  accept  the 
work  to  which  the  finishing  stroke  was  about  to  be  given,  and  that,  exalted  at  His 
right  hand,  He  might  there  prosecute  His  priestly  work,  interceding  for  those  in 
whose  behalf  He  died.    In  a  word,  the  glory  which  Christ  sought  was  the  salvation 
of  His  people. 

3  He  next  prays  expressly  for  His  people  ;  and  His  first  petition  is  that  the 
Father  would  keep  through  His  own  name,  or  preserve  sound  in  the  faith,  pure  in 
worship  and  holy  in  practice,  those  who  had  been  given  to  Him,  in  order  to  securr 
the  perpetuity,  and  also  expressly  the  unity,  of  the  Church. 


ST.    JOHN    XVII.  359 

name  those  whom  Thou  hast  given  Me,  that  they  may  be  one, 

12  as  we  are.     While  I  was  with  them  in  the  world,  I  kept  them 
in  Thy  name  :  those  that  Thou  gavest  Me   I  have  kept,  and 
none  of  them  is  lost,  but  the  son  of  perdition  ;  that  the  scrip- 

13  ture  might  be  fulfilled.     And  now  come  I  to  Thee ;  and  these 
things  I  speak  in  the  world,  that  they  might  have  My  joy  ful- 

14  filled  in  themselves.     I  have  given  them  Thy  word  ;  and  the 
world  hath  hated  them,  because  they  are  not  of  the  world,  even 

1-5  as  I  am  not  of  the  world.     I  pray  not  that  Thou  shouldest  take 
them  out  of  the  world,  but  that  Thou  shouldest  keep  them  from 

16  the  evil. l     They  are  not  of  the  world,  even  as  I  am  not  of  the 

17  world.     Sanctify  3  them  through  Thy  truth :  Thy  word  is  truth. 

18  As  Thou  hast  sent  Me  into  the  world,  even  so  have  I  also  sent 

19  them  into  the  world.     And  for  their  sakes  I  sanctify  Myself, 

20  that  they  also  might  be  sanctified  through  the  truth.     Neither 
pray  I  for  these  alone,  but  for  them  also  which  shall  believe  on 

21  Me  through  their  word  ;  that  they  all  may  be  one  ;  3  as  Thou, 
Father,  art  in  Me,  and  I  in  Thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one  in 

22  us  :  that  the  world  may  believe  that  Thou  hast  sent  Me.    And 
the  glory  which  Thou  gavest  Me  I  have  given  them  ;  that  they 

1  This  is  the  next  or  second  petition  offered  expressly  for  His  disciples.     He  did 
not  wish  them  removed  from  the  world  with  Himself,  but  that  they  should  be  kept 
from  the  evil  in  it.    The  preservation  of  such  feeble  creatures  against  such  mighty 
powers  could  only  be  by  the  mighty  power  of  God. 

2  In  this,  the  third  express  petition  for  His  disciples,  He  prays  that  the  good  work 
begun  in  their  hearts  may  be  carried  on,  by  their  being  cleansed  from  all  sin  and 
released  from  the  power  of  sin.      The  consecration  or  the   setting  apart  of  the 
apostles  and  of  their  successors  in  the  ministry  may  be  included,  but  their  being 
made  holy  is  an  indispensable  preparation,  and  the  most  important  part  of  conse- 
cration,  for  their  office  ;    as  it  is  in  every  Christian  for  any  service  of   Christ. 
He  prayed  that  they  might  be  sanctified  through  the  truth  ;  that  is,  the  word  of 
truth  as  the  outward  and  ordinary  means  which  the  Holy  Spirit  employs  :  the 
written  word,  worship,  the  preaching  of  the  gospel. 

3  That  they  might  be  one  we  have  in  a  distinct  petition,  showing  the  high  im- 
portance to  be  attached  to  the  subject.     It  is  not,  of  course,  unity  of  essence  ;  and  it 
is  not  likened  to  the  essential,  substantive  union  of  the  Father  and  the  Son,  but  to 
the  union  of  spirit,  of  life,  and  of  love,  which  subsisted  between  the  Father  and  Son. 
Nor  was  it  their  organic  unity  in  one  whole,  as  constituting  the  visible  Church,  for 
which  the  Eedeemer  prayed.     This  would  be  giving  to  the  shadow  the  place  of  the 
substance.      The  unity  of  the  visible  Church  ,is  not  essentially  affected  by  that 
which  for  convenience,  or  efficiency  of  administration,  or  on  account  of  difference  of 
views  on  minor  points,  requires  separate  organization ;  if  the  members  of  this  one 
great  visible  family  keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace,  their  moral 
unification  is  secured.     This  is  a  UNITY  which  no  more  admits  of  being  organized 
under  a  mere  external  form  than  that  love  which  is  its  divinely  appointed  bond 
admits  of  being  so  organized. 


360  THE   LIFE    AND   WEITINGS   OP   ST.  JOHN. 

23  may  be  one,  even  as  we  are  one  :  I  in  them,  and  Thou  in  Me, 
that  they  may  be  made  perfect  in  one ;  and  that  the  world  may 
know  that  Thou  hast  sent  Me,  and  hast  loved  them,  as  Thou 

24  hast  loved  Me.     Father,  I  will 1  that  they  also,  whom  Thou 
hast  given  Me,  be  with  Me  where  I  am ;  that  they  may  behold 
My  glory,  which  Thou  hast  given  Me  :  for  Thou  lovedst  Me 

"£>  before  the  foundation  of  the  world.  O  righteous  Father,  the 
world  hath  not  known  Thee:  but  I  have  known  Thee,  and 

26  these  have  known  that  Thou  hast  sent  Me.  And  I  have  de- 
clared unto  them  Thy  name,  and  will  declare  it ;  that  the  love 
wherewith  Thou  hast  loved  Me  may  be  in  them,  and  I  in  them. 

8.  The  Divinity  of  Messiah  seen  in  the  hour  of  His  deepest  humiliation  in 

the  garden  of  agony. 
XVIII.]  [Yer.  1-9. 

1  When  Jesus  had  spoken  these  words,  He  went2  forth  with 
His  disciples  over  the  brook  Cedron,  where  was  a  garden,  into 

2  the  which  He  entered,  and  His  disciples.     And  Judas  also, 
which  betrayed  Him,  knew  the  place  :  for  Jesus  ofttimes  re- 

3  sorted  thither  with  His  disciples.     Judas  then,  having  received 
a  band  of  men  and  officers  from  the  chief  priests  and  Pharisees, 

1  The  last  petition  for  His  followers,  in  this  wonderful  prayer,  which  fell  from  the 
lips  of  the  Saviour.     And  verily  it  might  well  conclude  all.    It  seems  to  lay  aside 
the  ordinary  form  of  prayer,  and  to  become  a  declaration  of  His  will,  or  a  procla- 
mation of  His  eternal  purpose.     To  he  with  Christ  and  remain  where  Christ  is  for 
ever,  to  see  Him  as  He  is  and  be  like  Him,  this  is  heaven. 

2  He  went  in  the  direction  of  the  Mount  of  Olives,  and  took  the  path  which 
wound  down  the  hill  into  the  ravine  or  Valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  which  separated  the 
city  from  the  mountain.     He  crossed  the  brook  Kedron.     There  is  an  enclosure  in 
this  vicinity  now  pointed  out  as  Gethsemane,  containing  large  and  ancient  olive 
trees,  lying  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain  as  it  begins  to  slope  up  from  the  bed  of  the 
stream.     The  agony  He  endured  here  is  more  particularly  described  by  the  other 
evangelists  :  see  Matthew  xxvi.  36-46.     The  striking  incident  John  records,  verse  6, 
is  wholly  omitted  by  the  other  evangelists.     All  were  guided  by  the  Spirit  of  inspira- 
tion as  much  in  what  they  omitted  as  in  what  they  recorded,  for  the  particular  ejid 
or  object  for  which  their  respective  narratives  were  designed.     John  wrote,  as  has 
been  shown,  for  a  very  distinct  and  definite  purpose ;  to  wit,  to  place  before  his 
readers  some  of  the  signs  or  evidences  which  were  fitted  to  convince  them  that  "  Jesus 
was  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  and  that  believing  they  might  have  life  through 
His  name  "  (chap.  xx.  31).   On  no  occasion,  not  even  on  the  cross,  did  Jesus  appear 
more  like  a  feeble  helpless  man  than  in  that  account  of  His  agony  which  was 
already  in  possession  of  the  Church  when  John  wrote.    It  seems  therefore  to  be 
the  evangelist's  object  here  to  supplement  the  account  of  his  brethren  with  an  im- 
portant feature  omitted  by  them,  or  to  present  Christ  in  a  different  aspect  and  one 
essential  to  a  faithful  account  of  this  deeply  affecting  part  of  His  sufferings. 


ST.    JOHN  XVIII.  361 

cometh  thither  with  lanterns  l  and  torches  and  weapons.  Jesus 
therefore,  knowing 2  all  things  that  should  come  upon  Him, 
went  forth,  and  said  unto  them,  "Whom  seek  ye  ?  They 
answered  Him,  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  Jesus  saith  unto  them,  I 
am  He.  And  Judas  also,  which  betrayed  Him,  stood  with  them. 

6  As  soon  then  as  He  had  said  unto  them,  I  am  He,  they  went 

7  backward,  and  fell 3  to  the   ground.      Then   asked  He   them 
again,  Whom  seek  ye  ?      And  they  said,  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

8  Jesus  answered,  I  have  told  you  that  I  am  He  :  if  therefore  ye 

9  seek 4  Me,  let  these  go  their  way :  that  the  saying  might  be 
fulfilled,  which  He  spake,  Of  them  which  Thou  gavest  Me  have 
I  lost  none. 

9.  A  prediction  of  Christ  fulfilled. 

[Ver.  10-27. 

10  Then  Simon  Peter  having  a  sword  drew 5  it,  and  smote  the 
high  priest's  servant,  and  cut  off  his  right  ear.      The  servant's 

1  The  gther  evangelists  make  no  mention  of  the  lanterns  and  torches,  but  speak 
of  a  great  multitude  as  accompanying  the  soldiers.     The  lanterns  and  torches  were 
probably  taken  at  the  suggestion  of  Judas  ;  for  although  it  was  the  season  of  the 
full  moon  he  knew  that  the  soldiers  would  need  them  to  guide  their  feet  through 
the  denies  and  thickets  among  the  rocks  of  the  valley.     There  is  something  wildly 
picturesque  in  this  night  march  down  the  steep  declivity  into  the  rocky  ravine. 

2  This  is  a  distinct  attribution  to  Him  of  knowledge  that  could  belong  only  to  a 
Divine  Being,  a  minute  foreknowledge  of  all  that  was  about  to  befall  Him. 

3  He  not  only  attributes  to  Him  foreknowledge  but  clothes  with  an  authority  and 
power  nothing  less  than  Divine.     We  need  the  entire  picture  as  drawn  by  the 
several  evangelists  if  we  would  have  a  right  view  of  Christ.    We  need  not  only  to 
see  Him  as  He  falls  to  the  ground  in  bloody  sweat,  but  to  see  Judas  and  those  whom 
he  guides,  as  they  go  backward  and  fall  to  the  ground  at  His  words,  "  I  AM  HE."     It 
was  not  ah1  a  scene  befitting  the  human  estate  of  our  Lord  or  His  deep  humiliation 
in  the  garden.     There  was  a  flashing  out  of  His  Divinity  in  the  miracle  wrought  by 
the  mere  exercise  of  His  will,  or  by  some  influence  that  went  forth  from  His  sacred 
person.     How  vain  all  the  military  force  Pilate  had  sent  out  for  His  arrest !     How 
vain  all  the  immense  power  of  the  government  he  represented,  unless  Jesus  had 
voluntarily  submitted.     How  Divine  as  well  as  human  the  Saviour  appears  in  the 
Garden  of  Gethsemane ! 

4  That  they  were  able  to  proceed  to  arrest  a  person  before  whom  they  had  just 
fallen  helplessly,  as  in  the  presence  of  a  superior  being,  may  still  have  been  and 
really  appears  to  have  been  in  obedience  to  His  wiU.     If  any  are  disposed  to  point 
to  these  scenes  and  say,  "  Could  this  Sufferer  have  been  Divine  ?  "   we  point  to 
them  and  ask,  "  Is  it  possible  that  He  could  have  been  a  mere  man?  " 

5  Peter,  no  doubt,  supposed  that  the  time  of  trial  had  come  to  which  his  Master 
had  referred    when    He   said,   "Wilt  thou    lay  down  thy    life    for   My  sake?" 
(chap.  xiii.  38.)     He  began  to  brandish  one  of  the  swords  provided,  and  with  one  of 
his  strokes  cut  off  an  ear  of  a  servant  of  the  high-priest.      John  is  the  only  evan- 
gelist who  gives  the  name  of  this  servant,  Malchus,  which  he  may  have  been  able 
to  do  from  his  acquaintance  with  the  family  of  the  high-priest. 


362  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF   ST.  JOHN. 

11  name  was  Malclius.     Then  said  Jesus  unto  Peter,  Put l  up  thy 
sword  into  the  sheath  :  the  cup  which  My  Father  hath  given  Me, 

12  shall 2  I  not  drink  it  ?     Then  the  band  and  the  captain  and 

13  officers  of  the  Jews  took  Jesus,  and  bound 3  Him,  and  led  Him 
away  to  Annas  4  first ;   for  he  was  father-in-law  to  Caiaphas, 

14  which  was  the  high  priest  that  same  year.      Now  Caiaphas  was 
he,  which  gave  counsel 5  to  the  Jews,  that  it  was  expedient  that 

15  one  man  should  die  for  the  people.     And  Simon  Peter  followed 
Jesus,  and  so  did  another  6  disciple  :  that  disciple  was  known 
unto  the  high  priest,  and  went  in  with  Jesus  into  the  palace 7 


1  The  sword  is  not  to  be  used  in  His  cause.    He  permitted  them  to  be  brought,  to 
render  this  teaching  more  complete  and  emphatic. 

2  He  had  just  prayed  that  it  might  pass  from  Him ;  but  it  was  His  Father's  will 
that  He  should  drink  it,  and  He  bowed  in  submission. 

3  They  treated  Him  as  an  ordinary  malefactor.      They  put  a  chain  on  Him,  and 
pinioned  His  arms,  as  if  He  were  a  dangerous  or  violent  man.  The  other  evangelists 
do  not  mention  this  fact,  which  is  essential  to  the  exact  picture  of  the  scene  described. 
Peter,  his  valour  having  subsided,  and  all  of  the  disciples,  not  excepting  even  the 
brave  and  beloved  John,  forsook  Him,  and  fled  away  among  the  trees  and  rocks  of 
the  valley. 

4  He  had  been  appointed  high-priest  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  7,  after  the  battle  of 
Actium,  by  Quirinius,  the  imperial  governor  of  Syria,  and  held  the  office  until  the 
beginning  of  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  seven   years  (Josephus,  Ant.  xviii.  2,  1 :  2). 
Caiaphas  succeeded  to  the  office  about  the  year  25,  and  held  it  till  the  passover  in 
the  year  37.     Under  him  the  father-in-law  seems  to  have  retained  the  title,  and 
somewhat  also  of  the  power  of  that  office.  It  was  as  a  mark  of  respect  and  deference 
to  Annas  that  Jesus  was  first  presented  before  him  ;  or  his  palace  may  have  laid  in 
their  route.     He  sent  Him,  without  removing  the  chains  or  thongs  that  bound  Him, 
to  Caiaphas. 

5  See  chapter  xi.  49-52. 

«  Now  Peter  and  John  reappear  in  the  scenes  that  were  passing ;  for  John  un- 
doubtedly means  himself  by  "  another  disciple.''  The  interesting  fact  is  stated  that 
he  was  known  to  the  high-priest.  It  seems  strange  that  John,  who  appeared  to 
know  so  little  of  the  fear  of  man,  should  have  fled  at  all ;  but  he  was  not  long  in 
regaining  his  self  possession,  and  it  was  doubtless  from  his  example  that  Peter,  who 
had  used  the  sword,  and  perhaps,  on  this  account,  felt  that  he  was  in  the  greater 
danger,  recovered  somewhat  of  his  natural  courage  and  resoluteness.  He  followed 
Jesus ;  but  it  was  "  afar  off."  He  does  not  come  near  His  person  as  John  does,  to 
be  recognised  as  one  of  His  followers,  but  keeps  at  a  distance  on  the  outskirts  of  the 
crowd. 

7  The  palace  was  built  in  the  ancient  oriental  style,  around  a  paved  courtyard 
or  area  open  to  the  sky,  into  which  there  was  an  arched  gateway  through  the  front 
of  the  house,  closed  with  a  massive  gate,  but  having  a  smaller  gate  or  wicket  for 
ordinary  admission,  attended  by  a  porter  or  portress.  The  rooms  upon  the  ground 
floor  opened  directly  on  this  interior  court,  and  those  in  the  upper  storeys  upon 
encircling  galleries  above  it.  A  fire  had  been  kindled  on  the  pavement  in  this  en- 
closed space,  for  at  so  early  an]  hour  in  the  morning,  at  this  season  of  the  year,  it 
was  cold. 


ST.    JOHN    XVIII.  363 

16  of  the  high  priest.  Bat  Peter l  stood  at  the  door  without.   Then 
went  out  that  other  disciple,  which  was  known  unto  the  high 
priest,  and  spake  unto  her  that  kept  the  door,  and  brought  in 

17  Peter.     Then  saith  the  damsel2  that  kept  the  door  unto  Peter, 
Art  not  thou  also  one  of  this  man's  disciples  ?    He  saith,  I  am 

18  not.     And  the  servants  and  officers  stood  there,  who  had  made 
a  fire  of  coals,  for  it  was  cold ;   and  they  warmed  themselves  : 

19  and  Peter  stood  with  them,  and  warmed  himself.     The  high 
priest  then  asked  Jesus  of  His  disciples,  and  of  His  doctrine. 

20 Jesus  answered  him,   I   spake    openly   to  the  world;    I  ever 
taught  in  the  synagogue,  and  in  the  temple,  whither  the  Jews 

21  always  resort ;  and  in  secret  have  I  said  nothing.     Why  askest 
thou  Me  ?  ask  them  which  heard  Me,  what  I  have  said  unto 

22  them  :  behold,  they  know  what  I  said.  And  when  He  had  thus 
spoken,  one  of  the  officers  which  stood  by  struck  Jesus  with  the 
palm  of  his  hand,  saying,  Answerest  Thou  the  high  priest  so  ? 

23  Jesus  answered  him,  If  I  have  spoken  evil,  bear  witness  of  the 

24  evil :  but  if  well,  why  smitest  thou  Me  ?      Now  Annas  had  sent 

25  Him  bound  unto  Caiaphas  the  high  priest.     And  Simon  Peter 
stood  and  warmed3  himself.     They  said  therefore  unto  him, 


1  John  descries  Peter  through  the  bars  of  the  gate,  which  had  been  closed  to  ex- 
clude the  crowd,  and  interceded  successfully  with  the  portress  for  his  admission ;  and 
Peter  sat  down,  like  an  unconcerned  spectator,  "  and  warmed  himself  at  the  fire" 
(Mark  xiv.  54).      Jesus  was  standing  before  the  high-priest  in  the  audience  room  of 
that  functionary,  and,  as  it  opened  directly  on  the  court,  could  both  see  and  be  seen 
by  those  sitting  around  the  fire.      A '  maidservant  from  one  of  the  overhanging 
galleries  fixes  her  eyes  on  Peter  "  beneath"  (Mark  xiv.  66),  as  his  countenance  is 
revealed  by  the  flickering  flashes  of  the  fire,  and  recognises  him  as  one  of  the  fol- 
lowers and  friends  of  Jesus.     She  hastens  down,  and  charges  him  with  being  one  of 
them.     He  does  not  deny  it  in  words,  but  by  the  make-believe  that  he  did  not  know 
what  was  meant. 

2  Peter  now  felt  ill  at  ease,  and  retreats  into  the  shadow  of  the  porch  or  covered 
passage  way  (Matt.  xxvi.  71),  which  led  through  the  front  of  the  building  into  the 
court.     The  portress  knew  him,  or  suspected  who  and  what  he  was,  as  it  was  at  the 
instance  of  John,  who  was  known  in  the  household  of  her  master,  she  had  admitted 
him.     She  asked,  "  Art  not  thou  also  one  of  this  man's  disciples  ?  "     He  promptly 
answered,  "  I  am  not." 

3  As  an  "hour  "  had  passed,  and  no  new  accuser  had  appeared  (Luke  xxii.  59), 
Peter  had  gathered  courage  to  return  to  the  court,  and  was  again  sitting  at  the  fire, 
where  he  could  both  see  and  be  seen  by  his  Master.     Several  who  stood  by  now 
renewed  the  charge  that  he  was  one  of  the  followers  of  Jesus,  and  referred  to  the 
provincialisms  that  marked  his  speech  (Mark  xiv.  70) ;  the  proof  became  positive  and 
overwhelming  when  a  kinsman  of  the  Malchus  whose  ear  Peter  had  cut  off  asked, 
"  Did  not  I  see  thee  in  the  garden  with  Him  ?  "     Peter  denied  the  third  time,  and 
Matthew  and  Mark  represent  him  as  accompanying  this  denial  with  oaths  and  curses. 


364  THE    LIFE    AND    WKITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

Art  not  thou  also  one  of  His  disciples  ?    He  denied  it,  and  said, 
26J  am  not.     One  of  the  servants  of  the  high  priest,  being  his 
kinsman  whose  ear  Peter  cut  off,  saith,  Did  not  I  see  thee  in 
27  the  garden  with  Him  ?     Peter  then  denied  again ;  and  immedi- 
ately the  cock l  crew. 


10.  Evidence  of  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus,  in  His  trial  before  Pilate. 
XVIII.  28.]  [XIX.  1-16. 

28  Then  led  they  Jesus  from  Caiaphas  unto  the  hall 2  of  judg- 
ment :   and  it  was  early ; 3  and  they  themselves  went  not  into 
the  judgment  hall,  lest  they  should  be  denied  ;  but  that  they 

29  might  eat  the  passover.4      Pilate  then  went  out  unto  them,  and 

30  said,  What   accusation  5  bring   ye  against   this  man  ?     They 
answered  and  said  unto  him,  If  He  were  not  a  malefactor,  we  6 

31  would  not  have  delivered  Him  up  unto  thee.     Then  said  Pilate 


1  The  crowing  of  the  cock  was  like  a  trumpet  call  to  Peter.    It  aroused  his  slum- 
bering conscience.     The  first  crowing,  which  immediately  followed  his  first  denial, 
if  noticed  at  all  by  him,  had  no  such  effect.     Lifting  a  trembling  glance  to  his 
Kedeemer,  just  at  that  moment  he  caught  a  look  from  Him,  and  all  the  fountains  of 
his  soul  were  broken  up  within  him.     He  went  out  and  wept  bitterly  (Luke  xxii. 
61,  62). 

2  As  they  were  not  empowered  by  the  Eoman  law  to  inflict  that  death  of  which 
they  had  declared  Him  guilty,  He  was  led  from  the  palace  of  Caiaphas  to  the  Prae- 
torium,  i.e.,  before  Pilate,  the  Eoman  governor. 

3  It  was  probably  not  far  from  daylight.      He  had  been  tried  in  the  night  before 
the  Sanhedrin,  and  was  taken  at  this  unseasonable  hour  to  the  bar  of  the  governor, 
who  appears  to  have  been  ready  to  receive  them. 

4  Of  the  passover  proper  they  had  already  partaken  the  evening  previous.     They 
wished  to  avoid  the  ceremonial  uncleanness,  which  would  exclude  them  from  the 
sacrificial  offerings  and  banquets  which  marked  the  paschal  festival,  comprising  the 
seven  days  of  unleavened  bread. 

5  It  would  seem  as  if  in  their  hot  haste,  without  proper  regard  to  judicial  forms, 
the  Sanhedrin  had  thrust  Him  before  the  bar  of  Pilate.     It  may  be  that  they 
counted  on  his  cruel  and  reckless  character,  and  expected  that  he  would,  without 
inquiry,  to  gratify  them  and  make  himself  popular,  pronounce  immediate  sentence 
of  death,  or  confirm  that  which  they  had  themselves  pronounced  against  Him. 
But  although  it  is  sufficiently  evident  that  Pilate  wished  to  stand  well  with  the 
Jewish  leaders,  he  would  not  sacrifice  all  show  of  justice,  and  therefore  demands 
that  they  should  bring  a  formal  charge. 

6  They  answered  as  if  their  dignity  had  been  offended,  or  as  if  Pilate  had  failed 
sufficiently  to  regard  their  high  and  sacred  character.     They  were  probably  em- 
barrassed precisely  what  charge  to  bring,  and  knew  that  charges   founded  upon 
alleged  violations  of  the  Jewish  law  would  be  thrown  out  by  the  Eoman  governor. 
The  charge  of  insurrection,  on  which  they  ultimately  fell  back,  had  so  little  to  sus- 
tain it,  was  indeed  so  absurd  upon  the  face  of  it,  that  they  hesitated  to  bring  it. 


ST.    JOHN   XVIII.  365 

unto  them,  Take1  ye  Him,  and  judge  Him  according  to  your 
law.     The  Jews  therefore  said  unto  him,  It  is  not  lawful  2  for  us 

32  to  put  any  man  to  death  :  that  the  saying  3  of  Jesus  might  be 
fulfilled,  which  He  spake,  signifying  what  death  He  should  die. 

33  Then  Pilate  entered  into  the  judgment  hall  again,  and  called 
Jesus,  and  said  unto  Him,  Art 4  Thou  the  King  of  the  Jews  ? 

34  Jesus  answered  him,  Sayest5  thou  this  thing  of  thyself,  or  did 

35  others  tell  it  thee  of  Me  ?     Pilate  answered,  Am  I  a  Jew  ? 6 


1  The  lordly  tone  on  the  part  of  the  Sanhedrin,  or  their  overweening  confidence 
that  their  presentation  of  a  man  as  a  malefactor  was  sufficient,  without  charge  or 
proof  from  them,  to  secure  his  condemnation,  appears  to  have  stirred  the  spirit  of 
Pilate.     His  answer  is  an  ironical  style  of  telling  them  that  he  is  not  wilh'ng  to  be 
the  mere  registrar  of  the  sentence  they  had  pronounced.     If  they  could  examine 
and  condemn  without  him,  could  they  not  execute  the  sentence  without  him  ? 

2  The  Jews  now  modify  their  tone,  and  acknowledge  that  it  is  not  lawful  for 
them,  under  the  Eoman  authority,  to  exercise  the  power  of  life  and  death.     So  de- 
termined were  they  to  effect  the  death  of  Jesus  that  they  were  willing  so  far  to 
recognise  their  subjugated  condition  as  to  admit  that  even  the  Sanhedrin  had  no 
authority  to  inflict  capital  punishment. 

3  The  mode  of  capital  punishment  among  the  Jews  was  by  stoning ;  when  there- 
fore they  admitted  that  it  was  not  lawful  for  them  to  put  any  man  to  death,  it  was 
the  fulfilment,  or  in  order  to  the  fulfilment,  of  a  saying  of  Jesus,  referring  to  the 
particular  manner  of  His  death  (see  Johnxii.  23-33).    If  He  had  died  by  stoning, 
at  the  hands  of  the  Jews,  then  what  He  had  said  about  being  lifted  up  from  the 
earth,  or  crucified,  according  to  the  Eoman  mode  of  capital  punishment  would  not 
have  been  fulfilled. 

4  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Jews,  perceiving  they  could  make  no  headway 
without  a  formal  accusation,  now  brought  the  charge  recorded  by  Luke,  but  of 
which  John  makes  no  express  mention,  except  what  may  be  implied  in  this  question, 

5  The  point  of  this  reply  of  Christ  to  Pilate  is  that  the  charge,  as  the  Jews 
meant  it,  was  without  the  least  colour  of  truth  ;  or,  in  the  words  of  Calvin  :    "  Be- 
sponsum  Christi  hue  tendit,  in   ea  accusatione  nihil  esse  coloris."     The   ancient 
writers,  as  early  as  Chrysostom,  according   to  Tholuck,  regard   the  object  of   our 
Lord's  question  to  be  this;  whether  Pilate,  with  all  his  vigilant  and  jealous  oversight, 
had  ever  himself,  or  by  his  agents  and  informers,  detected  in  Jesus  anything  that 
had  the  least  resemblance  to  an  attempt  at  insurrection,  or  to  create  discord  among 
the  people.     That  the  governor  must  well  know  the  baselessness  of  the  charge  was 
the  most  emphatic  manner  of  answering  him  in  the  negative,  in  the  only  way  the 
language  could  be  understood  as  coming  from  His  lips. 

6  Pilate's  question,  "  A.m  I  a  Jew  ?  "  was  not  intended  as  a  taunt  to  Jesus,  but  as 
an  acknowledgment  that  he  knew  nothing  of  the  accusation  which  had  been  brought 
against  Him,  except  what  had  been  reported  or  then  stated  before  Him  by  His 
accusers,  His  own  nation  and  the  chief  priests.     Members  of  their  most  venerable 
court  were  now  clamouring  for  His  condemnation.     He  asks  Him  to  state  the  case 
Himself,  "What  hast  Thou  done?"     This  must  have  been  from  an  over-aweing 
impression  which  His  presence  had  produced  on  Pilate,  and  which  we  are  specially 
to  keep  in  view,  in  this  account  of  His  trial.    It  was  one  of  the  signs  or  evidences, 
less  conspicuous  than  some  others,  which  we  are  not  however  to  overlook,  that 
Jesus  was  something  more  than  a  helpless  man  in  the  hands  of  His  accusers. 


366  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OP    ST.  JOHN. 

Thine   own  nation  and  the  chief  priests  have  delivered  Thee 

36  unto  me  :  what  hast  Thou  done  ?     Jesus  answered,  My  king- 
dom l  is  not   of    this    world :    if  My  kingdom  were    of   this 
world,  then   would  My  servants   fight,  that  I  should  not  be 
delivered  to  the  Jews  :  but  now  is  My  kingdom  not  from  hence. 

37  Pilate  therefore  said  unto  Him,  Art  Thou  a  king 2  then  ?    Jesus 
answered,  Thou  sayest  that  I  am  a  king.      To  this  end  was  I 
born,  and  for  this  cause  came  I  into  the  world,  that  I  should 
bear  witness  unto  the  truth.     Every  one  that  is  of  the  truth 

38  heareth  My  voice.     Pilate  saith  unto  Him,  What  is  truth  ? 3 
And  when  he  had  said  this,  he  went  out  again  unto  the  Jews, 

39 and  saith  unto  them,  I  find  in  Him  no  fault4  at  all.  But  ye 
have  a  custom5  that  I  should  release  unto  you  one  at  the  pass- 
over  :  will  ye  therefore  that  I  release  unto  you  the  King  of  the 

1  As  before  the  Jewish  council  the  Lord  had  confessed  His  Sonship  to  God,  so 
in  the  presence  of  this  representative  of  Caesar  He  openly  declared  that  He  was  a 
sovereign ;  He  did  not  abate  one  iota  of  the  claims  He  had  set  up.     A  mere  pre- 
tender would  have  exhibited  some  signs  of  intimidation.     The  kingdom  He  claims 
is  not  however  of  this  world,  and  He  points  to  the  fact  that  He  has  no  armies  or 
adherents  to  fight  for  Him  or  create  commotion  in  the  land.    When  He  was  ar- 
rested, there  were  none  to  attempt  His  rescue.     Pilate  himself,  as  chief  magistrate, 
well  knew  that  He  had  no  soldiers  in  the  field,  and  that  He  led  no  seditious  bands 
to  rapine  and  violence. 

2  This  is  not  a  question  of  mockery  and  contempt.     The  demeanour  and  words  of 
Christ  had  evidently  impressed  Pilate.    He  receives  from  Jesus  an  emphatic  affirma- 
tion in  the  oriental  style,  "  Thou  sayest  that  I  am,  a  king ;  "  or,  "  That  is  precisely 
what  I  am."     "  To  this  end  was  I  born,  and  for  this  cause  came  I  into  the  world." 
By  the  two  forms  of  expression  referring  both  to  His  human  and  pre-existent  nature, 
His  incarnation  as  born  of  a  woman,  and  His  Divinity  as  having  come  from  heaven. 
He  came  to  bear  witness  to  the  truth  by  revealing  Himself  as  the  Messiah  and 
Saviour  of  the  world. 

3  It  has  been  a  question  variously  decided,  whether  we  are  to  take  Pilate  as 
asking  this  question  sarcastically  or  despohdiiigly.     Taking  the  most  favourable 
judgment  of  his  case,  we  find  in  these  words,  instead  of  mockery  and  scorn,  only  a 
sad  utterance  of  despair  of  finding  the  truth.    There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  like  other 
educated  men  of  his  age,  he  partook  of  profound  scepticism.    He  could  only  ask, 
after  passing  through  the  circle  of  philosophical  systems,  "  What  is  truth  ?    Who 
knows  ?  "  who  presumes  to  tell  after  so  many  vain  inquiries  of  the  world's  sages  ? 

4  This  is  the  testimony  of  one,  an  unscrupulous  man,  who,  there  can  be  no  doubt, 
would  have  gladly  discovered  some  evidence  against  Him.    It  was  not  only  truth, 
but  spotless  innocence,  that  stood  at  his  bar.     One  of  the  most  unjust  judges,  one 
of  the  most  pliant  of  tools,  is  constrained  to  utter  this  verdict.    It  was  at  this  point 
that  he  sent  him  to  Herod,  hoping  to  escape  from  the  perplexing  dilemma  in  which 
the  enemies  of  Jesus  had  placed  him  ;  but  the  expedient  was  of  no  avail. 

5  He  next  attempted  to  avail  himself  of  a  custom  that  he  should  release  unto 
them  one  of  the  prisoners  at  the  passover,  and  asked  that  it  might  be  Jesu- .     It 
was  at  this  point  that  his  wife  sent  him  a  warning. 


ST.    JOHN    XIX.  367 

40  Jews  ?     Then  cried  they  all  again,  saying,  Not  this  man,  but 

Barabbas.     Now  Barabbas  was  a  robber. 
XIX.] 

Then    Pilate   therefore   took    Jesus,   and   scourged1    Him. 

2  And  the  soldiers  platted  a  crown  of  thorns,  and  put  it  on  His 

3  head,   and  they  put  on  Him  a  purple  robe,2  and  said,   Hail, 
King   of  the  Jews  !  and   they  smote  Him   with   their  hands. 

4  Pilate    therefore    went   forth    again,3   and    saith    unto    them, 
Behold,   I  bring  Him  forth  to  you,  that  ye  may  know  that 

5  I  find  no  fault  in  Him.      Then  came  Jesus  forth,  wearing  the 
crown  of  thorns,  and  the  purple  robe.      And  Pilate  saith  unto 

6  them,    Behold   the  Man !     When  the  chief  priests   therefore 
and  officers  saw  Him,  they  cried  out,  saying,  Crucify  Him,4 
crucify  Him.    Pilate  saith  unto  them,  Take  ye  Him,  and  cru- 

7  cify   Him  :  for   I  find  no  fault  in  Him.     The  Jews  answered 
him,  We  have  a  law,  and  by  our  law  He  ought  to  die,  be- 

8  cause  He  made  Himself  the  Son  of  God.     When  Pilate  there- 

9  fore  heard    that  saying,  he  was  the  more  afraid ; 5  and  went 
again  into  the  judgment  hall,  and  saith  unto  Jesus,  Whence  art 

1  This  scourging  was  not  intended  for  that  which  usually  preceded  crucifixion ; 
but,  if  possible,  to  satisfy  in  some  degree  their  feeling  of  hostility  against,  and  per- 
haps dispose  them  to  release  Him,  or  consent  to  His  release  (Luke  xxiii.  16). 

2  Doubtless  as  much  in  contempt  of    the  Jews  (seizing  on  every  occasion)   as 
of  Him.     "  The  image,"  says  Tholuck,  "  which  the  brutal  insolence  of  the  soldiers, 
as  if  by  the  sport  of  accident,  here  creates,  has  become  the  most  touching  repre- 
sentation of  Divine  majesty  in  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  consequently  also  the 
sublime st  subject  of  Christian  art !  " 

3  In  the  other  evangelists  the  account  of  the  trial  concluded  with  the  scourging 
and  the  mocking  obeisance  to  Him,  as  a  king,  by  the  soldiers.     They  take  no  notice 
of  the  persevering  attempt  of  Pilate  for  the  release  of  Jesus,  in  which  the  same  im- 
pression Jesus  had  made  on  this  pagan  ruler  is  brought  out  still  more  strongly. 
It  is  the  testimony  which  is  forced  from  this  unjust  judge,  which  is  the  true  key  of 
John's  account  of  the  trial  of  Jesus.  "  Behold  the  Man  !  Ecce  Homo  !  "I5e  6  tivdpuirosl 
Is  not  this  enough  ?    Look  upon  this  helpless,  unresisting  Man  !  What  harm  can  He 
do  to  Moses  or  to  Caesar  ?    Let  this  suffice.     I  find  no  fault  in  Him." 

4  They  made  the  court  ring  with  this  fierce,  continuous  cry.     Pilate    replies 
with  bitter  sarcasm,  "  Take  ye  Hun  and  crucify  Him."    If  he  had  said  "  Stone 
Him,"  can  we  doubt  that    they  would  instantly  have  proceeded   to  execute  the 
sentence  ? 

5  Pilate  seems  to  have  experienced  "  a  strange  sensation  of  awe  in  the  presence 
of  Jesus,"  at  the  first  sight  of  Him,  as  He  was  brought  to  his  bar.     This  had  been 
increased  by  what  He  said  of  His  kingdom  and  the  great  end  for  which  He  came 
into  the  world,  and  by  the  warning  his  wife  sent  him,  and  was  now  greatly  inten- 
sified by  the  expression  the  Jews  made  use  of,  that  He  "made  Himself  the  Son  of 
God."    He  hurries  back  into  the  Prsetorium,  taking  Jesus  with  Him,  and  earnestly 
asks  Him,  "  Whence  art  Thou  ?  "    The  very  silence  of  Jesus  had  meaning. 


368  THE   LIFE   AND   WETTINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

10 Thou?  Bat  Jesus  gave  him  no  answer.  Then  saith  Pilate 
unto  Him,  Speakest 1  Thou  not  unto  me  ?  knowest  Thou  not 
that  I  have  power  to  crucify  Thee,  and  have  power  to  release 

11  Thee  ?  Jesus  answered,  Thou  couldest  have  no  power  at  all 
against  Me,  except  it  were  given  thee  from  above  :  therefore 

12 he2  that  delivered  Me  unto  thee  hath  the  greater  sin.  And 
from  thenceforth  Pilate  sought  to  release  Him  :  but  the  Jews 
cried  out,  saying,  If  thou  let  this  man  go,  thou  art  not 
Caesar's 3  friend :  whosoever  maketh  himself  a  king  speaketh 

13  against  Caesar.      When  Pilate  therefore  heard  that  saying,  he 
brought  Jesus  forth,  and  sat  down  in  the  judgment  seat  in  a 
place  that  is  called  the  Pavement,  but  in  the  Hebrew,  Grabbatha. 

14  And  it  was  the  preparation  4  of  the  passover,  and  about  the 
sixth  5  hour :  and  he  saith  unto  the  Jews,  Behold  6  your  King  ! 

15  But  they  cried  out,  Away  with  Him,  away  with  Him,  crucify 
Him.    Pilate  saith  unto  them,  Shall  I  crucify  your  King  ?    The 

16  chief  priests  answered,  We  have  no  king  but  Caesar.     Then  de- 
livered 7  he  Him  therefore  unto  them  to  be  crucified.    And  they 
took  Jesus,  and  led  Him  away. 


1  Pilate  assumes  an  air  of  offended  dignity  at  the  silence  of  Jesus,  and  talks  of 
his  power,  Qovvlav,  to  crucify  or  to  release  Him. 

2  Doubtless  Caiaphas,  as  representing  the  Sanhedrin.     Pilate  consented  to  be  the 
tool  of  others  who  had  had  better  opportunities  of  estimating  aright  the  character 
and  claims  of  Jesus. 

3  The  jealous  and  suspicious  character  of  Tiberius,  who  was  then  emperor,  was 
well  known.    If  Pilate  failed  to  punish  a  man  who  claimed  to  be  a  king,  and  thus 
set  up  opposing  claims  to  those  of  the  emperor,  it  would  reach  the  emperor's  ears, 
who  would  regard  it  as  a  crimen  majestatis. 

4  The  preparation  of  the  passover  sabbath.     This  day,  the  sixth  day  of  the  week, 
was  known  in  popular  usage  as  the    Preparation   or    fore- sabbath  ;     just  as  in 
German  the  usual  name  for  Saturday  is  Sonnabend,  i.e.  eve  of  Sunday. 

5  That  is,  according  to  the  Roman  computation  of  the  hours  of  the  day,  which 
began  at  midnight,  and  which  John  follows  ;  it  was  at  this  season  of  the  year  not  far 
from  sunrise. 

6  There  is  bitter  sarcasm  in  these  words  of  Pilate.     Then-  humiliation  and   his 
revenge  was  complete,  when  he  drew  from  these  haughty  priests  and  scribes  the  con- 
fession, "  We  have  no  king  but  Caesar."     So  intent  were  they  in  carrying  their 
point,  that  they  scrupled  at  no  means,  not  even  a  public  declaration  which  falsified 
all  the  cherished  convictions  of  their  heart,  and  was  at  war  with  the  deepest  senti- 
ments of  the  nation. 

7  Thus  ended  the  trial  of  Jesus.     Pilate  not  long  after  fell  under  the  displeasure 
of  the  emperor,  which  he  so  much  dreaded,  was  sent  into  exile,  and  is  said  to  have 
perished  miserably  by  his  own  hand.    Many  of  those  who  cried  "  Crucify  Him,"  and 
made  the  degrading  confession  "We  have  no  king  but  Caesar,"  perished  afterward 
at  the  siege  of  Jerusalem,  in  open  rebellion  against  the  Komans. 


ST.    JOHN   XIX.  369 

11.  Evidences  seen  in  His  crucifixion  and  the  manner  of  His  death. 

[Ver.  17-30. 

17     And  He  bearing  His  cross1  went  forth  into  a  place  called  the 

place  of  a  skull/  which  is  called  in  the   Hebrew   Golgotha: 

18 where   they  crucified3  Him,    and  two  others   with   Him,   on 

19  either  side  one,  and  Jesus  in  the  midst.     And  Pilate   wrote   a 
title,4  and  put  it  on  the  cross.     And  the  writing  was,  JESUS 

20  OF  NAZARETH  THE  KING-  OF  THE  JEWS.     This  title 
then  read  many  of  the  Jews ;  for  the  place  where  Jesus   was 
crucified  was  nigh  to  the  city :  and  it  was  written  in  Hebrew, 

1  A  detachment  of  Eoman  soldiers  were  ready  to  receive  the  command  of  Pilate. 
We  learn  fr  >m  John  that  when  the  procession  started  Jesus  bore  His  own  cross,  hut 
he  omits  the  affecting  incident,  fully  recorded  by  the  other  evangelists,  that  on  the 
way  the  cross  was  transferred  to  one  Simon  a  Cyrenian,  who  was  compelled  to  bear 
it.     The  physical  strength  of  the  Saviour  proved  inadequate  to  the  burden ;  death 
was  already  doing  its  work  on  Him  when  He  sweat  as  it  were  great  drops  of  blood 
in  the  garden.     The  image  of  Him,  as  He  went  forth  bearing  the  cross,  is  one  that 
should  be  dear  and  full  of  instruction  to  the  hearts  of  His  followers. 

2  "  In  the  Hebrew  Golgotha,"  in  the  Greek  KpavLov,  and  in  the  Latin  Calvaria, 
which  the  A.  V.,  following  the  Vulgate,  has  rendered  in  Luke  Calvary.     Those  who 
have  most  dispassionately  examined  the  question  on  the  spot,  by  all  the  aids  of 
history  and  of  topography,  have  been  "  led  irresistibly  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
Golgotha  and  the  tomb  now  shown  (within  the  walls  of  the  modern  Jerusalem)  in 
the  church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  are  not  upon  the  real  places  of  the  crucifixion  and 
resurrection  of  our  Lord."     (SeeEobinson'sBib.  Kes.,  i.,  pp.  373-417).    All  that  the 
New  Testament  tells  us  regarding  the  site  of  Golgotha  is  that  it  was  beyond  the  walls, 
or  without  the  gate  (Heb.  xiii.  12),  that  it  was  nigh  the  city,  and  near  some  public 
highway  leading  into  the  country,  and  that  it  was  no  great  distance  from  a  garden 
or  orchard  in  which  was  a  tomb.     There  is  said  to  be  a  skull-shaped  eminence  dis- 
tinctly discernible  even  at  the  present  day,  lying  a  short  distance  north  of  the  modern 
city,  on  the  Damascus  road,  a  locality  which  would  have  fallen  just  beyond  the 
second  wall  of  the  ancient  city.  (See  an  excellent  monograph  on  "  The  True  Site  of 
Calvary,"  by  Fisher  Howe,  author  of  "  Oriental  and  Sacred  Scenes.") 

3  The  cross  was  first  securely  planted  in  the  ground,  the  body  of  the  condemned 
was  drawn  up,  and  the  hands  and  feet  first  tied  and  then  nailed  to  it.     We  learn  from 
the  evangelist  Mark,  who  follows  the  Jewish  division  of  the  day,  that  it  was  the  third 
hour ;  John,  following  the  Eoman  division,  would  have  said  it  was  the  ninth  hour,  or, 
as  we  express  it,  it  was  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

4  The  inscription  which  Pilate  caused  to  be  placed  over  the  head  of  Christ  on  the 
cross,  whatever  of  irony  or  contempt  it  may  have  been  intended  to  convey,  was  in 
fact  a  public  recognition  of  Him  in  His  real  character.    It  was  in  the  three  languages 
which  represented  the  literature  of  antiquity,  so  that  all  who  could  read  at  all  could 
read  what  was  written.     Whatever  Pilate   may  have  intended,  the  use  which  he 
made  of  these  languages  seems  to  have  had  this  significance,  that  the  Greek  and 
Eoman  elements  were  about  to  be  brought  into  union  with  the  more  sacred  elements 
of  a  Heaven-revealed  religion ;  the  intellectual  civilization  of  the  one,   and  the 
organizing  civilization  of  the  other,  were  to  be  brought  in  contact  with   a  civili- 
zation which  should  sanctify  and  christianize  them. 

2  B 


370  THE   LIFE   AND   WKITINGS    OP   ST.  JOHN. 

21  and  Greek,  and  Latin.     Then  said  the  chief  priests  of  the  Jews 

to  Pilate,  Write  not,  The  King  of  the  Jews  ;  but  that  He  said, 

22 1    am    King   of  the   Jews.     Pilate  answered,   What   I    have 

23  written  I  have  written.     Then  the   soldiers,  when  they  had 
crucified  Jesus,  took  His  garments,  and  made  four  parts,  to 
every  soldier  a  part ;  and  also  His  coat :  now   the  coat 1  was 

24  without  seam,  woven  from  the  top  throughout.    They  said  there- 
fore among  themselves,  Let  us  not  rend  it,  but  cast  lots  for  it, 
whose  it  shall  be :  that  the  scripture  might  be  fulfilled,  which 
saith,    They   parted   My   raiment   among   them,   and  for  My 
vesture  they  did  cast  lots.     These  things  therefore  the  soldiers 

25  did.     Now  there  stood 2  by  the  cross  of  Jesus  His  mother,  and 
His  mother's  sister,  Mary  the  wife  of  Cleophas,  and  Mary  Mag- 

26  dalene.     When  Jesus  therefore  saw  His  mother,  and  the  disciple 
standing  by,  whom  He  loved,  He  saith  unto  His  mother,  Woman, 

27  behold  thy  son !     Then  saith  He  to  the  disciple,  Behold  thy 
mother  !  And  from  that  hour  that  disciple  took  her  unto  his 

28  own  home.     After  this,  Jesus  knowing  that  all  things  were  now 
accomplished,   that   the  scripture  might   be  fulfilled,  saith,  I 

29  thirst.3     Now  there  was  set  a  vessel  full  of  vinegar  :  and  they 
filled  a  sponge  with  vinegar,  and  put  it  upon  hyssop,  and  put 

30^  to  His  mouth.  When  Jesus  therefore  had  received  the 
vinegar,  He  said,  It  is  finished : 4  and  He  bowed  His  head,  and 
gave  up  the  ghost. 

1  The  under  garment  worn  next  to  the  body.    In  the  casting  of  lots  for  this,  that 
scripture  (Psalm  xxii.)  was  fulfilled  in  which  David  speaking  of  his  own  sufferings,  in 
the  spirit  of  prophecy,  described  those  which  were  fully  realized  only  in  his   King 
and  Lord.    What  the  bones  of  the  psalmist's  emaciated  body  in  his  strong  poetical 
language  did  for  his  garments,  parting  them  among  them,  and  as  it  were  casting 
lots  for  his  vesture,  these  soldiers  did  for  the  raiment  of  Christ. 

2  John  makes  no  record  of  the  scene  of  mockery  so  fully  described  by  the  other 
evangelists.    But  in  one  of  the  pauses  of  the  storm  that  beat  around  the  devoted 
Sufferer's  head  occurred  this  scene  of  inimitable  beauty  and  tenderness,  in  which 
the  evangelist  himself  bore  a  prominent  part,  and  which  he  alone  describes,  and 
thus  supplies  what  seems  so  essential  to  an  occasion  in  which  there  were  so  many 
elements  of  terror  and  woe. 

3  This  exclamation  seems  to  have  followed  the  passing  away  of  the  miraculous 
darkness,  of  which  St.  John  makes  no  mention,  as  he  does  not  of  the  other  miracles 
attending  the  crucifixion.     The  hyssop,  which  grew  to  the  length  of  about  three 
feet,  could  be  conveniently  used  to  support  a  sponge.    The  vinegar  was  that  which 
had  been  provided  for  the  soldiers. 

4  No  greater  or  more  profound  utterance  ever  fell  upon  the  human  ear.    In  the 
Greek  it  is  but  a  single  word,  TerAeo-rat.     There  were. seven  words,  or  sayings,  uttered 
by  Christ  on  the  cross.     Three  of  them  are  recorded  by  John,  three  of  them  by 


ST.   JOHN   XIX.  '371 


12.  The  supernatural  in  the  death,  and  the  Divine  interposition  in  the 

burial,  of  Christ, 

[Yer.  31-42. 

31  The  Jews  therefore,  because  it  was  the  preparation,  that  the 
bodies  should  not  remain  upon  the  cross  on  the  sabbath  day, 
(for  that  sabbath  day  was  a  high1  day,)  besought  Pilate  that 
their  legs  might  be  broken,2  and  that  they  might  be  taken  away. 

32  Then  came  the  soldiers,  and  brake  the  legs  of  the  first,  and  of 

33  the  other  which  was  crucified  with  Him.     But  when  they  came 
to  Jesus,  and  saw  that  He  was  dead  already,  they  brake  not 

34  His  legs  :   but  one  of  the  soldiers  with  a   spear  pierced 3  His 
35 side,  and  forthwith  came  there  out  blood4  and  water.     And 

Luke,  and  one  is  found  in  both  Matthew  and  Mark : — (1).  His  prayer  for  His  murder- 
ers ;  (2)  His  answer  to  the  prayer  of  the  dying  thief ;  (3)  His  address  to  His  mother  ; 
(4)  His  address  to  the  beloved  disciple;  (5)  His  cry  of  anguish;  (6)  "It  is 
finished;"  (7)  " Father,  into  Thy  hands  I  commend  My  spirit." 

1  It  was  the  sabbath  of  their  great  national  festival. 

2  The  Roman  custom  was  to  permit  the  bodies  to  remain  on  the  cross  till  they 
were  devoured  by  birds,  or  wasted  away  hi  the  sun  and  rain.     But  the  Jewish  law 
required,  when  capital  punishment  was  inflicted  by  hanging  on  a  tree,  the  body 
should  not  remain  all  night  upon  the  tree  but  should  be  buried  the  same  day  (Deut. 
xxi.  22,  23).     The  Jews  were  especially  solicitous  that  the  provisions  of  their  law 
might  not  be  disregarded  in  this  case,  (although  the  sentence  had  been  executed  by 
the  Romans,)  and  these  bodies  be  left  so  near  the  sacred  city  on  so  solemn  an  occasion. 
The  request  that  their  legs  might  be  broken  was  but  another  form  of  the  request 
that  their  death  might  be  hastened,   and  the  bodies  removed  for  /burial,  before 
sunset. 

3  This  was  done  by  the  soldier,  that  there  might  be  no  possibility  of  mistake  as  to 
His  death.     It  has  been  commonly  supposed  that  this  wound,  although  this  is  not 
affirmed,  was  on  the  left  side  of  the  body,  in  the  region  of  N  the  heart,  and  that  the 
blow  was  aimed  at  and  reached  the  heart.     But  it  was  not  the  mere  impulse  of  the 
soldier,  who  would  make  sure  that  Jesus  was  really  dead,  which  gave  direction 
to  the  spear ;  there  was  a  Divine  hand  connected  with  it,  for  the  same  Spirit  of 
prophecy  which  had  declared,  "  a  bone  of  Him  shall  not  be  broken,"  (the  allusion 
clearly  is  to  the  paschal  lamb,  which  was  to  be  eaten  without  the  breaking  of  a  bone, 
see  Exodus  xii.  46,)  had  also  predicted  that  He  should  be  pierced :  Zechariah  xii.  10. 
The  supernatural  was  in  the  death,  as  it  had  been  in  the  life,  of  Jesus ;  he  who  over- 
looks this  will  fail  to  understand  the  narrative  of  the  cross  aright.     The  miraculous 
was  not  suspended  in  Him  while  He  hung  upon  the  cross,  nor  even  after  He  had 
bowed  His  head  and  given  up  the  ghost. 

4  This. flowing  out  of  blood  and  water  after  death  has  been  the  occasion  of  much 
discussion  on  the  part  of  those  familiar  with  physiological  science.     Infidels  have 
objected  that  blood  coagulates  so  speedily  in  a  dead  body  as  to  render  the  fact  here 
asserted  an  impossibility.     On  the  other  hand,  it  is  claimed  on  the  basis  of  medical 
observation  (Ebrard,  ii.  698)  that  the  flowing  of  the  blood,  as  here  described  by  John, 
would  be  possible.    But  it  seems  to  be  of  immaterial  consequence  how  the  question, 
whether  blood  would  naturally  flow  under  these  circumstances  or  not,  is  decided,  as 
far  as  St.  John's  truthfulness  here  is  concerned.    Admitting  it  to  be  true  that  when 


372  THE   LIFE   AND   WEITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

he  that  saw  it  bare  record,,  and  his  record  is  true;  and  he 

36  knoweth  that  he  saith  true,  that  ye  might  believe.     For  these 
things  were  done,  that  the  scripture  should  be  fulfilled,  A  bone 

37  of  Him  shall  not  be  broken.      And  again  another  scripture 

38  saith,  They  shall  look  on  Him  whom  they  pierced.     And  after l 
this  Joseph  of  Arimathaea,  being  a  disciple  of  Jesus,  but  secretly 
for  fear  of  the  Jews,  besought  Pilate  that  he  might  take  away 
the  body  of  Jesus  :  and  Pilate  gave  him  leave.     He  came  there- 

39  fore,  and  took  the  body  of  Jesus.     And  there  came  also  Nico- 
demus,    (which   at   the  first   came   to    Jesus   by  night,)    and 
brought  a  mixture  of  myrrh  and  aloes,  about  a  hundred  pound 

40  weight.     Then  took  they  the  body  of  Jesus,  and  wound  it  in 
linen  clothes  with  the  spices,  as  the  manner  of  the  Jews  is  to 

41  bury.     Now  in  the  place  where  He  was  crucified  there  was  a 
garden;  and  in  the   garden  a   new2  sepulchre,  wherein  was 

42  never  man  yet  laid.     There  laid  they  Jesus  therefore  because 
of  the  Jews'  preparation  day ;  for  the  sepulchre  was  nigh  at 
hand. 

the  heart  ceases  to  beat  the  blood  ceases  to  flow,  and  as  the  body  becomes  cold 
coagulates,  what  then?  Is  it  necessary  to  understand  the  apostle  as  describing, 
and  testifying  so  solemnly,  merely  to  a  physiological  fact  ?  Is  it  not  better  to  under- 
stand him  as  declaring  a  supernatural  event,  and  one  to  which  some  special 
significance  is  to  be  attached?  Instead  of  reducing  the  number  of  miracles,  a 
careful  study  of  the  history  of  Christ  will  reveal  their  existence  where  we  have 
least  suspected  them,  even  in  those  stages  of  it  when  He  was  brought  to  the  lowest 
humiliation.  The  attempts  to  explain  the  flowing  of  the  blood  and  water  as  a 
merely  natural  event,  and  upon  physiological  grounds,  are  wholly  unsatisfactory.  We 
therefore  infer  that  it  was  miraculous.  Among  other  things,  it  may  have  been 
intended  as  a  sign  that  the  body  was  not  subject  to  the  ordinary  law  of  corruption, 
as  we  know  it  was  not.  The  cause  assigned  for  the  death  of  Christ,  in  the  volume, 
"  The  Physical  Cause  of  the  Death  of  Christ,"  by  William  Stroud,  M.D.,  is  that  it 
was  "  rupture  of  the  heart  from  agony  of  mind  ; "  see  pp.  85-156,  Appleton's  edit. 
It  was  not  the  two  component  parts  of  blood,  into  which  it  had  been  resolved,  John 
saw ;  but  it  was  blood  (both  the  serum  and  the  coagulum)  and  water.  We  must  look 
in  another  direction  -for  the  special  significance  of  the  flowing  of  the  blood  and 
water ;  see  ,1  John  v.  6-8,  where  he  explains  the  remarkable  way  in  which  he 
understood  the  water  and  the  blood  to  be  symbolical.  See  page  406  of  this  volume. 

1  The  account  of  the  burial  of  Jesus  is  one  of  exquisite  beauty  and  pathos.     Two 
rich  men,  both  of  them  honourable  counsellors,  or  members  of  the  Jewish  Areo- 
pagus, appear  to  have  agreed  together  to  give  the  body  a  becoming  burial.     One 
of  them  goes  to  Pilate  and  craves  possession  of  the  body  ;  the  other  procures  the 
spices,  a  hundred  pound  weight. 

2  Christ  was  not  buried  in  the  common  receptacle  with  malefactors,  nor  in  a 
tomb  in  which  man  was  ever  laid.     There  seems  to  have  been  in  this  a  special, 
Divine  interposition,  that  nothing  might  interfere  with  the  clearest  evidence  of  His 
resurrection  (see  J.  A.  Alexander  on  Mark  xv.  42,  43).    Instead  of  the  traditional 


ST.   JOHN   XX.  373 

13.  Crowning  proof  of  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus,  His  resurrection  from 

the  dead. 
XX.]  [Ver.  1-31. 

1  The  first  day  of  the  week  cometh  Mary  x  Magdalene  early, 
when  it  was  yet  dark,2  unto  the  sepulchre,  and  seeth  the  stone  3 

2  taken  away  from  the  sepulchre.    Then  she  runneth,  and  cometh 
to  Simon  Peter,  and  to  the  other  disciple,  whom  Jesus  loved, 
and  saith  unto  them,  They  have  taken  4  away  the  Lord  out  of 
the  sepulchre,  and  we  know  not  where  they  have  laid  Him. 

3  Peter  therefore  went  forth,  and  that  other  disciple,  and  came  to 

4  the  sepulchre.     So  they  ran 5  both  together  :  and  the  other 

site  of  the  holy  sepulchre  on  Mount  Acra,  within  the  walls  of  the  modern  city, 
being  the  true  one,  the  new  tomb  in  which  Jesus  was  laid  was  near  Calvary,  or  "  in 
the  place  where  Jesus  was  crucified."  Calvary  was  an  elevation  or  hill,  having  in 
the  distance,  as  seen  from  the  Mount  of  Olives,  the  shape  of  a  human  skull,  situated 
just  beyond  the  present  Damascus  Gate,  which  is  supposed  to  occupy  the  identical 
spot  where  the  northern  exit  was  in  the  days  of  Christ.  The  hill  is  so  steep  in 
front  of  the  gate  that  the  path  winds  in  order  to  reach  its  top.  Here,  in  a  garden, 
amid  the  fresh  shrubbery  and  the  early  spring  flowers,  the  body  of  Jesus  was  laid. 
Anemones,  the  star  of  Bethlehem,  tulips,  and  numerous  varieties  of  the  scarlet 
flowers  for  which  Palestine  is  celebrated,  and  which  have  suggested  to  visitors  the 
touching  and  significant  name  of  "  the  Saviour's  blood-drops,"  were  blooming  and 
shedding  their  delicate  fragrance  on  the  air.  The  figs  and  olives  were  covered  with 
fresh  leaves,  and  afforded  grateful  shade,  and  the  vines  hung  in  graceful  festoons 
from  the  trellises,  or  clambered  along  the  terraces  of  the  hill. 

1  There  were  other  women  with  Mary  Magdalene  ;  Mary,  the  mother  of  James  the       « 
Less  ;  Salome,  the  mother  of  James  and  John ;  and  Joanna,  the  wife  or  widow  of 
Chuza  (Mark  xvi.  1 ;  Luke  xxiv.  10).    -There  was  something  probably  that  gave 
Mary  Magdalene  in  this  company  peculiar  prominence,  as  John  mentions  her  alone. 

It  may  have  been  that  in  her  earnestness  she  had  moved  faster  and  reached  the 
sepulchre  in  advance  of  her  companions. 

2  That  is,  before  it  was  fairly  light ;  or,  as  Matthew  has  it,  "as  it  began  to 
dawn."  -* 

3  It  had  been  a  matter  of  no  little  concern  with  the  women,  as  they  drew  near, 
who  should  roll  away  the  stone  from  the  door  ;  but  they  find  it  rolled  away. 

4  Her  only  thought  is  that  those  who  had  been  set  as  a  guard  over  the  sepulchre     J 
had  removed  the  body,  and  she  hastens  to  inform  Peter.     The  other  women  exhibit 
more  calmness.     They  enter  the  sepulchre    (Matt,  xxviii.  5-7 ;   Mark   xvi.  5-7 ; 
Luke  xxiv.  4-8).    As  they  view  it,  pondering  and  perplexed,  two  angels  in  the  form 

of  men  in  shining  garments  appear,  point  out  the  place  where  the  Lord  lay,  and 
direct  them  to  go  quickly  into  the  city  and  "  tell  His  disciples  and  Peter."  The 
first  witnesses  to  the  fact  of  His  resurrection  were  these  angels.  As  the  women, 
obedient  to  the  heavenly  vision,  were  hastening  into  the  city,  Jesus  met  them.  This 
was  His  first  appearance.  He  told  them  to  go  and  make  known  the  fact  of  His 
resurrection  to  His  disciples. 

5  John  being  the  younger  and  more  active  reached  the  sepulchre  first,  but  hesitating 
about  entering,  Peter,  with  his  usual  promptness,  goes  directly  in.     There  was  no 
sign  of  disorder  there,  but  rather  of  care  and  arrangement.     The  full  and  exact 
description  of  St.  John  is  that  of  an  eyewitness.     "He  saw  and  believed."    The 


374  THE   LIFE   AND   WKITINGS   OF   ST.  JOHN. 

5  disciple  did  outrun  Peter,  and  came  first  to  the  sepulchre.    And 
he  stooping  down,  and  looking  in,  saw  the  linen  clothes  lying ; 

6  yet  went  he  not  in.     Then  cometh  Simon  Peter  following  him, 
and  went  into  the  sepulchre,  and  seeth  the  linen  clothes  lie, 

7  and   the   napkin,   that  was  about  His   head,  not  lying   with 
the  linen  clothes,  but  wrapped  together  in  a  place  by  itself. 

8  Then  went  in  also  that  other  disciple,  which  came  first  to  the 

9  sepulchre,  and  he  saw,  and  believed.     For  as  yet  they  knew 
not    the  scripture,  that  He  must  rise  again   from  the  dead. 

10  Then  the  disciples  went  away  again  unto  their  own  home.     But 

11  Mary l  stood  without  at  the  sepulchre  weeping :  and  as  she 

12  wept,  she  stooped  down,   and  looked  into  the  sepulchre,  and 
seeth  two  angels  in  white  sitting,  the  one  at  the  head,  and  the 

13  other  at  the  feefc,  where  the  body  of  Jesus  had  lain.     And  they 
say  unto  her,  Woman,  why  weepest  thou?     She   saith  unto 
them,  Because  they  have  taken  away  my  Lord,  and  I  know  not 

14  where  they  have  laid  Him.     And  when  she  had  thus  said,  she 
turned  herself  back,  and  saw  Jesus  standing,  and  knew  not 

15  that  it  was  Jesus.     Jesus  saith  unto  her,  Woman,  why  weepest 
thou  ?  whom  seekest  thou  ?     She,  supposing  Him  to  be  the 
gardener,  saith  unto  Him,  Sir,  if  Thou  have  borne  Him  hence, 
tell  me  where  Thou  hast  laid  Him,  and  I  will  take  Him  away. 

16  Jesus  saith  unto  her,  Mary.     She  turned  herself,   and  saith 

17  unto  Him,  Eabboni ; 2  which  is  to  say,  Master.     Jesus  saith 
unto  her,  Touch  Me  not;  for  I  am  not  yet  ascended  to  My 
Father :  but  go  to  My  brethren,  and  say  unto  them,  I  ascend 
unto  My  Father,  and  your  Father ;  and  to  My  God,  and  your 

18  God.     Mary  Magdalene  came  and  told  the  disciples  that  she 
had  seen  the  Lord,  and  that  He  had  spoken  these  things  unto 

two  disciples  were  satisfied,  from  the  orderly  condition  in  which  they  found  the 
tomb,  that  it  had  not  been  rifled.  They  yielded  to  the  evidence  before  them,  in  that 
empty  tomb,  that  their  Master  had  risen  from  the  dead. 

1  Mary  Magdalene,  who  had  returned  or  followed  Peter  back ;  and  as  she  looked 
in,  to  her  also  was  granted  a  vision  of  angels.     The  account,  as  it  stands  in  un- 
adorned simplicity  on  the  inspired  page,  is  one  of  inimitable  beauty.     How  simple 
and  artless  the  reply  of  Mary  to  the  angels,  and  to  Jesus  when  she  mistook  Him  for 
the  gardener !     This  was  the  second  appearance  of  our  risen  Lord  to  human  sight. 
Peter  seems  to  have  been  the  next,  and  was  the  first  of  the  apostles  to  whom  the 
Lord  showed  Himself.    No  account  is  given  of  it,  the  fact  being  merely  mentioned  by 
Luke  (xxiv.  34)  and  referred  to  by  Paul  (1  Cor.  xv.  5).     The  two  disciples  on  the 
way  to  Emmaus  (Cleopas,  and  perhaps  Luke,  who  gives  the  account  with  so  much 
fulness  and  vividness)  were  the  next. 

2  My  great  or  adorable  Master. 


ST.   JOHN   XX.  375 

19  her.     Then  the  same  day l  at  evening,  being  the  first  day  of 
the  week,  when  the  doors  were  shut  where  the  disciples  were 
assembled  for  fear  of  the  Jews,  came  Jesus  and  stood  in  the 

20  midst,  and  saith  unto  them,  Peace  be  unto  you.     And  when 
He  had  so  said,  He  showed  unto  them  His  hands   and  His 
side.     Then  were  the  disciples  glad,  when  they  saw  the  Lord. 

21  Then  said  Jesus  to  them  again,  Peace  be  unto  you :  as  My 

22  Father  hath  sent  Me,  even  so  send  I  you.     And  when  He  had 
said  this,  He  breathed  on  them,  and  saith  unto  them,  Receive 

23  ye  the  Holy  Ghost :  whosesoever  sins  ye  remit,  they  are  re- 
mitted unto  them ;  and  whosesoever  sins  ye  retain,  they  are 

24  retained.     But  Thomas,  one  of  the  twelve,  called  Didymus,  was 

25  not  with  them  when  Jesus  came.     The  other  disciples  therefore 
said  unto  him,  We  have  seen  the  Lord.     But  he  said  unto 
them,  Except  I  shall  see  in  His  hands  the  print  of  the  nails, 
and  put  my  finger  into  the  print  of  the  nails,  and  thrust  my 

26  hand  into  His  side,  I  will  not  believe.     And  after  eight  days 
again  His  disciples  were  within,  and  Thomas  with  them  :  then 
came  Jesus,  the  doors  being  shut,  and  stood  in  the  midst,  and 

27  said,  Peace  be  unto  you.     Then  saith  He  to  Thomas,2  Reach 
hither  thy  finger,  and  behold  My  hands ;  and  reach  hither  thy 
hand,  and  thrust  it  into  My  side ;  and  be  not  faithless,  but 

28  believing.     And   Thomas  answered  and  said  unto  Him,  My 

29  Lord  and  my  God.     Jesus  saith  unto  him,  Thomas,  because 
thou  hast  seen  Me,  thou  hast  believed  :  blessed  are  they  that 

30  have  not  seen,  and  yet  have  believed.     And  many  other  signs 
truly  did  Jesus  in  the  presence  of  His  disciples,  which  are  not 

31  written  in  this  book :    but  these 3  are  written,  that  ye  might 
believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God;   and  that 
believing  ye  might  have  life  through  His  name. 

1  There  are  five  distinct  appearances  recorded  as  occurring  the  same  day  on  which 
our  Lord  arose.     At  the  last  of  these  all  of  the  eleven  apostles  were  present  save 
one  ;   He  convinced  them  of  His  identity  by  showing  them  His  hands  and  side. 

2  As  his  associates  related  to  Thomas  how  Jesus  had  appeared  to  them  and  had 
showed  them  His  hands  and  side,  he  refused  to  believe.     By  his  slowness  to  believe 
he  contributed  to  render  the  proofs  of  our  Lord's  resurrection  more  abundant  and 
convincing,  sufficient  for  that  large  class  of  men  found  in  all  ages  and  lands  of 
whom  Thomas  was  a  type.     Just  one  week  after,  on  the  evening  of  the  first  day 
of  the  week,  when  the  apostles  were  again  assembled  privately,  Jesus  appeared 
again.    His  entrance  again  into  a  closed  room  with  a  tangible  material  body  must  be 
regarded  of  course  as  among  the  supernatural  events  connected  with  His  resurrec- 
tion.    Thomas  was  now  afforded  the  very  test  which  he  had  prescribed. 

3  The  evangelist  tells  us  that  Jesus  afforded  His  disciples  many  other  signs  or 


376  THE   LIFE   AND  WRITINGS   OP   ST.  JOHN. 

14.  After  His  resurrection  He  performs  similar  miracles  to  those  per- 
formed before  His  crucifixion,  and  thus  identifies  Himself  in  the  highest 
regions  of  proof  with  the  Jesus  who  died. 
XXI.]  [Yer.  1-25. 

1  After 1  these  things  Jesus  showed  Himself  again  to  the  dis- 
ciples at  the  sea  of  Tiberias;  and  on  this  wise  showed3  He 

2  Himself.     There  were  together    Simon  Peter,  and  Thomas3 

proofs  of  His  Messiahship  not  written  in  this  book.  And  then  he  adds  that  his 
grand  object  in  writing  was  to  set  forth  these  signs  or  proofs  that  Jesus  is  the 
Christ  (Messiah),  the  Son  of  God,  that  men  might  believe,  and  believing  might  have 
life  in  His  name.  He  had  accumulated  proof  upon  proof  until  he  closes  with  the 
confession  MY  LOBD  AND  MY  GOD  of  Thomas,  who  had  been  so  slow  of  belief,  so 
incredulous,  who  must  have  everything  brought  to  the  test  of  sense,  a  confession 
wrung  from  him  by  the  overwhelming  proof,  one  of  the  most  explicit  utterances  of 
belief  in  the  Divine  Messiahship  of  Jesus  which  had  fallen  from  the  lips  of  any  of 
the  apostles.  There  had  been  the  testimony  of  one  whom  the  whole  nation  regarded 
as  a  prophet.  There  had  been  proof  from  miracles  and  the  fulfilment  of  prophecy. 
There  had  been  the  conviction  wrought  in  the  minds  of  publicans  and  sinners, 
Samaritans,  members  and  officers  of  the  Sanhedrin,  throngs  composed  of  thousands 
of  the  common  people  and  of  the  few  Gentiles  with  whom  He  had  been  brought  in 
contact,  not  excepting  even  Pilate  who  condemned  Him  and  the  centurion  in  com- 
mand on  the  day  of  His  crucifixion.  There  had  been  the  pure  and  heavenly 
doctrine  of  His  lips  and  the  spotlessness  of  His  character  and  life.  There  had  been 
a  voice  from  heaven  owning  Him  as  the  Son  of  God.  And  now,  to  crown  all  the 
proofs,  as  the  sign  of  signs  He  rises  from  the  dead. 

1  In  every  part  of  this  chapter  the  hand  of  the  disciple  Jesus  loved  is  "  plain  and 
unmistakable  ;  in  every  part  of  it  his  character  and  spirit  are  made  manifest  in  a 
way  which  none  but  the  most  biased  can  fail  to  recognise."  (Alford.)    We  are  not 
told  how  long  it  was  after  the  events  recorded  in  the  close  of  the  preceding  chapter 
that  Jesus  showed  Himself  at  the  Sea  of  Tiberias.    Some  have  supposed  it  was  just 
a  week,  or  two  weeks,  which  would  make  it  occur  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  the 
Christian  sabbath.     To  the  women,  to  whom  He  made  His  first  appearance,  the 
Lord  gave  the  charge,  "Go,  tell  My  brethren  [meaning  not  merely  the  apostles,  but 
the  disciples  generally]  that  they  go  into  Galilee,  and  there  shall  they  see  Me."    It 
was  probably  in  obedience  to  this  injunction  that  the  "  more  than  five  hundred 
brethren,"  spoken  of  by  Paul  (1  Cor.  xv.  6)  gathered  on  a  mountain  in  Galilee, 
where  Jesus  had  appointed  them. 

2  The  expression  "  showed  Himself  "  is  applicable  simply  to  the  fact  that  after  His 
resurrection  He  did  not  associate  freely  and  constantly  with  His  disciples,  as  before 
His  death,  but  only  occasionally  appeared  to  them.    As  no  man  saw  Him  rise  from 
the  tomb,  and  as  He  did  not  appear  to  His  enemies  and  rejecters  at  all  after  His 
resurrection,  so  to  His  chosen  apostles  He  appeared  only  a  few  times. 

3  There  were  seven  of  the  apostles  present.     From  the  names  given,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  Thomas  they  appear  to  have  been  the  same  who  were  first  called  to  the 
disciple  ship.     It  is  not  unnatural  therefore  to  suppose  that  the  two  whose  names 
are  not  given  were  Andrew  and  Philip.     Thomas  was  present,  that  he  might  be  still 
further  strengthened  in  faith.  To  all  of  the  apostles  He  appears  to  have  shown  Him- 
self at  least  three  times,  and  to  some  of  them  (for  example,  Peter  and  James)  four 
or  five.     These  manifestations  were  not  confined  to  any  one  place  or  time.     Now  it 
is  in  the  early  morning,  when  the  shadows  and  fears  of  the  night  are  past ;  again,  it 


ST.   JOHN   XXI.  377 

called  Didymus,  and  Nathanael  of  Cana  in  Galilee,  and  the  sons 

3  of  Zebedee,  and  two  other  of  His  disciples.     Simon  Peter  saith 
unto  them,  I  go  a  fishing.1     They  say  unto  him,  We  also  go 
with  thee.     They  went  forth,  and  entered  into  a  ship  immedi- 

4  ately ;   and  that  night  they  caught  nothing.     But  when  the 
morning  was  now  come,  Jesus  stood  on  the  shore ;  but  the  dis- 

5  ciples  knew  2  not  that  it  was  Jesus.     Then  Jesus  saith  unto 
them,  Children,  have  ye  any  meat  ?     They  answered  Him,  No. 

6  And  He  said  unto  them,  Cast 3  the  net  on  the  right  side  of  the 
ship,  and  ye  shall  find.     They  cast  therefore,  and  now  they 

7  were  not  able  to  draw  it  for  the  multitude  of  fishes.     Therefore 
that  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved  saith  unto  Peter,  It  is  the  Lord. 
Now  when  Simon  Peter  heard  that  it  was  the  Lord,  he  girt  his 
fisher's  coat  unto  him,  (for  he  was  naked,)  and  did  cast  himself 

8  into  the  sea.    And  the  other  disciples  came  in  a  little  ship,4  (for 
they  were  not  far  from  land,  but  as  it  were  two  hundred  cubits,) 

9  dragging  the  net  with  fishes.     As  soon  then  as  they  were  come 
to  land,  they  saw  a  fire  of  coals  there,  and  fish  laid  thereon,  and 

10  bread.    Jesus  saith  unto  them,  Bring  of  the  fish 5  which  ye  have 

11  now  caught.     Simon  Peter  went  up,  and  drew  the  net  to  land 


is  in  the  broad  noonday;  and  again,  it  is  at  evening.  At  one  time  it  is  in  a 
chamber  in  the  city  ;  at  another,  in  the  open  country,  in  the  vicinity  of  Jerusalem  ; 
and  now  it  is  in  those  scenes  so  familiar  to  His  disciples,  on  the  shores  of  the  Sea 
of  Galilee. 

1  This  proposal  is  not  to  be  interpreted  as  if  they  were  desponding,  and  despaired 
of  the  cause  in  which  they  had  embarked,  and  were  disposed  to  return  to  their  old 
employment.     They  were  then  a  considerable  company,  and  might  do  something  to- 
wards their  own  support.    Moreover,  they  doubtless  loved  the  Sea  where  in  earlier 
life  they  had  passed  so  many  days  ;  and  now,  having  returned  to  it  after  a  consider- 
able absence,  it  had  an  irresistible  attraction  for  them.     Peter's  proposal,  instead  of 
indicating  a    despondent,  would  show  rather  a  calm,  assured,  cheerful  state  of 
mind,  while  they  were  waiting  for  the  promised  manifestation,  for  which  the  fol- 
lowers of  Jesus  from  all  parts,  as  far  and  wide  as  the  message  could  be  sent,  were 
now  assembling  in  Galilee. 

2  It  was  probably  in  the  early  dawn,  before  there  was  light  sufficient  for  them  to 
distinguish  clearly,  as  they  were  near  enough  to  the  shore  to  speak  and  to  be  spoken 
to. 

3  He  had  on  a  former  occasion,  when  they  had  toiled  all  night  and  taken  nothing 
(Luke  v.  4,  5),  given  a  similar  command.      The  present  miracle,  so  similar  to  the 
former  one,  immediately  opened  the  eyes  of  John,  who  turned  to  Peter  and  said, 
"  It  is  the  Lord." 

4  The  small  boat  attached  to  the  larger  vessel.     The  distance  was  not  far  from 
two  hundred  cubits,  i.e.,  about  one  hundred  yards. 

5  The  fish  just  caught  were  as  miraculously  provided  as  those  which  could  be 
seen  broiling  on  the  fire.    There  was  no  mixture  of  the  common  with  the  Divine. 


378  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OP    ST.  JOHN. 

full  of  great  fishes,  a  hundred l  and  fifty  and  three  :  and  for  all 

12  there  were  so  many,  yet  was  not  the  net  broken.     Jesus  saith 
unto  them,  Come  and  dine.     And  none  of  the  disciples  durst 
ask  Him,   Who   art  Thou  ?   knowing  that  it   was  the  Lord. 

13  Jesus  then  cometh,  and  taketh  bread,  and  giveth  them,  and 

14  fish  likewise.     This  is  now  the  third 2  time  that  Jesus  showed 
Himself  to  His  disciples,  after  that  He  was  risen  from  the  dead. 

15  So  when  they  had  dined,  Jesus  saith  to  Simon  Peter,  Simon, 
son  of  Jonas,  lovest  thou  Me  more  than  these  ?     He  saith  unto 
Him,  Yea,  Lord;  Thou  knowest  that  I  love 3  Thee.     He  saith 

16  unto  him,  Feed  My  lambs.4    He  saith  to  him  again  the  second 
time,  Simon,  son  of  Jonas,  lovest  thou  Me  ?     He   saith  unto 
Him,  Yea,  Lord ;  Thou  knowest  that  I  love  Thee.     He  saith 

17  unto  him,  Feed  My  sheep.     He  saith  unto  him  the  third  time, 
Simon,  son  of  Jonas,  lovest  thou  Me  ?      Peter  was    grieved 
because  He  said  unto  him  the  third  time,  Lovest  thou  Me  ? 
And  he  said  unto  'Him,  Lord,  Thou  knowest  all  things ;  Thou 
knowest  that  I  love  Thee.     Jesus  saith  unto  him,  Feed  My 

18  sheep.      Verily,   verily,   I    say   unto  thee,   When   thou   wast 
young,5   thou   girdedst    thyself,   and   walkedst    whither   thou 

1  The  count  was  suggested  no  doubt  because  the  haul  was  so  unprecedented^ 
large.     It  was  sufficient  not  only  for  supplying  their  immediate  wants,  but  their 
wants  during  the  period  of  their  waiting,  and  to  enable  them  to  show-  hospitality  to 
other  disciples  who  were  gathering  and  were  strangers  in  Galilee.     Our  Lord  never 
performed  miracles  merely  for  the  display  of  the  power  by  which  He  performed 
them.     He  performed  these  miracles  that  He  might  be  identified  by  His  disciples  in 
the  very  highest  regions  of  proof,  and  for  the  beneficent  purpose  of  supplying  the 
wants  of  His  followers  on  this  great  occasion  of  their  gathering  in  Galilee  by  His 
own  command. 

2  This  was  the  third  time  He  had  appeared  to  the  apostles  in  their  distinctive 
character,  or  collected  together. 

8  It  is  worthy  of  special  notice  that  the  word  rendered  love  in  Peter's  answer, 
0t\tD  o-e,  is  one  of  lower  significancy  than  the  one  thus  translated  in  our  Lord's 
question,  d/ycw-ps  /AC  ;  He  does  not  claim  that  he  is  more  devoted  to  Christ  than 
John,  or  James,  or  Nathanael ;  but  he  does  profess  to  love  Him,  notwithstanding  the 
past,  as  a  poor  sinner  may  love,  although  far  below  the  standard  such  a  Friend 
deserved. 

4  "  Lambsland  sheep  include  the  whole  flock,  and  are  here  employed  to  show  that 
the  pastoral  care  of  Peter  and  all  Christ's  ministers  is  to  be  exercised  over  all  the 
members  of  the  flock,  young  and  old,  strong  and  infirm,  rich  and  poor,  high  and 
low,  without  distinction  of  age  or  condition."  (Dr.  J.  J.  Owen's  Commentary,  in  loco.) 
As  sheep  and  lambs  embrace  the  entire  flock,  so  it  has  also  been  remarked  that  the 
two  verbs  employed  (/Movce,  feed,  and  iroifjuuve,  shepherdise,  or  guide  as  a  shepherd) 
include  every  provision  for   the  spiritual  wants  of  the  flock,  and  every  kind  of 
supervision  and  care  required. 

5  Peter  was  no  longer  young;  he  was  probably  several  years  the  senior  of  the 


ST.    JOHN   XXT. 


379 


wouldest ;  but  when  thou  shalt  be  old,  thou  shalt  stretch  forth 
thy  hands,  and  another  shall  gird  thee,  and  carry  thee  whither 

19  thou  wouldest  not.     This  spake  He,  signifying  by  what  death 
he  should  glorify  God.     And  when  He  had  spoken  this,  He 

20  saith  unto    him,  Follow l  Me.      Then  Peter,   turning   about, 
seeth  the   disciple  whom  Jesus   loved  following ;   which   also 
leaned  on  His  breast  at  supper,  and  said,  Lord,  which  is  he 

21  that  betrayeth  Thee?     Peter  seeing  him  saith  to  Jesus,  Lord, 

22  and  what  2  shall  this  man  do  ?     Jesus  saith  unto  him,  If  I  will 
that  he  tarry  till  I  come,  what  is  that  to  thee  ?  follow  thou  Me. 

23  Then  went  this  saying  abroad  among  the  brethren,  that  that 
disciple  should  not  die :  yet  Jesus  said  not  unto  him,  He  shall 
not  die ;  but,  If  I  will  that  he  tarry  till  I  come,  what  is  that  to 

24  thee  ?     This  is  the  disciple  which  testifieth  of  these  things,  and 
wrote  these  things  :  and  we  know  that  his  testimony  is  true. 

25  And  there  are  also  many  other  things  which  Jesus  did,  the 
which,  if  they  should  be  written  every  one,*  I  suppose  that  even 
the  world3  itself  could  not  contain  the  books  that  should  be 
written.     Amen. 

Lord.  In  the  conclusion  of  this  address  He  seems  to  describe  the  infirmities  of  old 
age,  and  the  death  of  one  who  comes  to  the  grave  through  these  infirmities.  If 
Peter  was  nearly  forty  years  old  when  he  was  thus  addressed,  and  laboured  for  nearly 
forty  years  after  the  ascension,  then  we  may  understand  by  what  death  he  was  to 
glorify  God.  Others  suppose  that  our  Lord's  words  to  him  are  to  be  taken  simply 
as  a  figurative  prophetic  designation  of  the  binding  of  the  hands  of  one  about  to  be 
led  to  execution,  and  that  in  the  stretching  out  of  the  hands  there  is  a  distinct  allu- 
sion to  crucifixion  as  the  mode  of  his  death. 

1  Probably  towards  that  mountain  where  He  had  appointed  to  meet  His  assem- 
bled followers. 

2  Shall  and  do  are  in  italics.     The  question  in  the  Greek  is,  offros  8£  rt ;  And 
what  this  man  ?  i.e.  What  shall  he  suffer?  or,  How  with  him?     The  question  was 
prompted  by  the  close  intimacy  that  existed  between  the  two  disciples  and  the  loving 
regard  of  Jesus  for  St.  John.    With  childlike  simplicity  John  records  the  answer, 
and  corrects  the  saying  that  had  gone  abroad,  that  Christ  had  foretold  he  should 
never  die.     He  will  not  allow  that  interpretation  of  the  words,  "  If  I  will  that  he 
tarry  till  I  come,"  most  glorious  to  himself.     All  that  the  Saviour  foretold  in  regard 
to  John  was  that  he  should  live  until  His  advent  at  the  overthrow  of  Jerusalem. 
That  event  was  passed,  and  John  was  standing,  waiting  for  that  other  advent  when 
he  should  go  into  the  presence  of  that  Saviour  by  whom  he  was  so  tenderly  loved. 

3  The  simple  idea  seems  to  be  that  if  everything  should  be  put  down  in  detail  it 
would  be  too  cumbrous  and  voluminous  for  the  world  or  the  mass  of  men  to  receive 
and  profit  by.     There  is  as  much  wisdom  in  the  reticence  of  Scripture,  or  in  its 
precise  limitation,  as  in  what  it  actually  contains. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
LAST  DAYS  AND  CONCLUDING  WHITINGS  OF  THE  APOSTLE. 

ST.    JOHN   FAR   ADVANCED     IN    YEARS. — EPISTLES   WRITTEN    LATER   THAN   THE 

GOSPEL. BREVITY    OF   THE    SECOND   AND   THIRD    PERHAPS     INDICATIVE     OF 

AGE. — GENUINENESS     OF     EPISTLES     MOST     EVIDENT. — SUBLIME      THOUGHT 

AT     FOUNDATION     OF     THE     FIRST. FIVE      GREAT      TOPICS. — THE     SECOND 

EPISTLE    ADDRESSED    TO    A    CHRISTIAN   WOMAN    AND   HER    CHILDREN. THE 

THIRD  ADDRESSED   TO    GAIUS. IT    ADMIRABLY    SKETCHES   THREE    DISTINCT 

PORTRAITS. — ST.  JOHN  VERY  AGED,  PROBABLY  PAST  NINETY. — THESE 
WRITINGS  BREATHE  SPIRIT  OF  HEAVEN.— BECOMING  TOO  WEAK  TO  WALK 
INTO  THE  ASSEMBLY,  HE  IS  BORNE  THITHER. LIVED  TO  THE  BEGINNING 

OF    THE    SECOND    CENTURY. — NOT     LESS     THAN    ONE     HUNDRED    AT   DEATH. 
| 

BURIED      PROBABLY      AMONG     THE     SEPULCHRES      OF     MODNT     PRION. 

PERSECUTED  UNDER  DOMITIAN,  NERVA,  TRAJAN. TRADITIONS,  APOCRY- 
PHAL AND  GENUINE. BOILING  OIL. — LEGENDS  OF  THE  SHIPWRECK, 

THE  PARTRIDGE,  DRUSIANA,  THE  POISONED  CUP,  ETC. — CER1NTHUS  AT 
THE  BATH. — TRADITION  THAT  HE  DID  NOT  DIE. — LEGENDARY  INTER- 
PRETATION OF  JOHN  XXI.  22. — LONGFELLOW  ON  THE  LEGEND. — PRO- 
FESSOR PLUMPTRE  QUOTED. 

IF  the  Gospel  according  to  St.  John  was  written  some  fifty  years 
after  the  events  to  which  it  relates,  the  Epistles  that  bear  the  name  of 
this  apostle  were  evidently  written  considerably  later,  about  the  year 
90 ;  the  Second  and  Third  probably  when  he  had  begun  to  feel  some  of 
the  infirmities  of  age.  He  was  far  advanced  in  years,  and  drawing 
near  to  the  end  of  his  earthly  career.  The  pen  of  inspiration  is  held 
by  the  hand  of  one  trembling  with  age,  yet  ripe  in  wisdom  and  Christ- 
ian experience. 

That  the  apostle  St.  John  was  the  author  of  these  three  letters  there 
is  no  room  to  doubt.  In  regard  to  the  First,  we  find  Polycarp,  who 
suffered  martyrdom  A.D.  168,  and  who  was  St.  John's  disciple,  freely 
quoting  (in  his  Epistle  to  the  Philippians,  chap,  vii.)  1  John  iv.  3. 
Eusebius  distinctly  refers  to  the  use  Papias  made  of  this  Epistle,  T^s 
TTporepas  'ladwov  eVioroAf/s.  1  The  Muratorian  fragment,  written  prob- 
ably A.D.  170,  and  the  Peschito  version,  which  belongs  to  the  same  age, 
together  bear  witness  to  the  genuineness  of  this  Epistle.2  When  we 

1  Euseb.,  Hist.  Eccl.,  iii.  39.         3  Ewald,  Introduc.  to  Comm.,  pp.  14-16. 

I 


I: 


VESPASIAN. 


ANALYSES   OP   EPISTLES.  381 

compare  the  subject  matter  and  the  style  of  the  Epistles  with  the  fourth 
Gospel,  it  is  manifest  that  they  must  have  proceeded  from  the  same 
author.  In  the  Epistles,  as  in  the  Gospel,  we  find  "  the  same  delicacy 
and  diffidence,  the  same  lofty  calmness  and  composure,  and  especially 
the  same  truly  Christian  modesty,  that  cause  him  to  retire  to  the  back- 
ground as  an  apostle,  and  to  say  altogether  so  little  of  himself :  he 
only  desires  to  counsel  and  warn,  and  to  remind  his  readers  of  the 
sublime  truth  they  have  once  acquired ;  and  the  higher  he  stands  the 
less  he  is  disposed  to  humble  *  the  brethren '  by  his  great  authority 
and  directions."  1 

The  simple,  sublime  thought,  that  lies  at  the  foundation  of  the  First- 
Epistle  is  FELLOWSHIP  ;  "  fellowship  in  its  twofold  aspect :  the  union  of 
believers  with  God  and  His  Son  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  union  of  be- 
lievers with  one  another."  2  It  admits  of  these  five  divisions  : 

1.  Fellowship,  its  nature     chap.    i. — iii.  1,  2. 

2.  Fellowship,  its  fruit,  Holiness     ,,     iii.  3-24. 

3.  Fellowship,  its  law,      Truth        „     iv.  1-6. 

4.  Fellowship,  its  life,      Love  „     iv.  7-21. 

5.  Fellowship,  its  root,    Faith         „      v.   1-21. 

1.  The  Nature  of  Fellowship ;  presented  (1)  As  effected  by  the  in- 
carnation and  death  of  Christ,  chap.  i.  1-7.      (2)  As  affording  no 
ground  for  the  denial  of  our  sinfulness,  chap.  i.  8 — ii.  5.     (3)  As  the 
only  efficient  basis  of  brotherly  love,  chap.  ii.  6-11.     (4)  Reason  for 
addressing  all  Christians,  the  feeblest  and  youngest,  on  this  subject, 
chap.  ii.  12-14.     (5)  Non-fellowship  with  the  world,  chap.  ii.  15-17. 
(6)  Non-fellowship  with  antichristian  error,  chap.  ii.  18-29.     (7)  Re- 
lation of  fellowship  to  sonship  and  future  glory,  chap.  iii.  1,  2. 

2.  The   Fruit  of   Fellowship,  Holiness.      (1)    Its  binding   nature, 
chap.  iii.  3-9.     (2)  Brotherly  love  one  of  the  fruits  of  holiness,  chap, 
iii.  10-18.     (3)  Other  fruits,  chap.  iii.  19-24. 

3.  The  Law  of  Fellowship,  Truth,  chap.  iv.  1-6. 

4.  The  Life  of  Fellowship,  Love,  chap.  iv.  7-21. 

5.  The  Root  of  Fellowship,  Faith.    (1)  Its  efficacy,  chap.  v.  1-5.    (2) 
The  three  witnesses  to  its  all-sufficient  foundation,  chap.  v.  6-12.     (3) 
Faith  in  intercessory  prayer,  or  prayer  for  one  another,  chap.  v.  13-17. 
(4)  Conclusion,  Christians  urged  to  maintain  fellowship  through  Christ, 
chap.  v.  18-21. 

It  has  been  a  question  whether  the  Second  Epistle  is  addressed  to  a 
church  or  the  Church  at  large,  e/cXexr^  Kupt'a,  "the  elect  lady,"  i.e.,  under 
the  symbol  of  a  godly  woman  ;  or  to  some  individual  woman,  unnamed, 

1  Ewald,  Die  Johann.  Schriften,  i.,  p.  431. 

2  Schaff's  Hist,  of  Apos.  Ch.,  p.  417. 


382  THE    LIFE   AND   WETTINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

noted  for  her  piety ;  or  whether  Kvpia  is  to  be  taken  for  the  proper 
name  of  the  woman  addressed.  The  weight  of  criticism  seems  to 
favour  the  view  that  it  is  to  be  taken  as  a  proper  name.  This  has  been 
maintained  by  Benson,  Bengel,  S.  G.  Lange,  Liicke,  Alford,  and  others. 
The  Epistle,  in  its  few  brief  sentences,  expresses  great  tenderness  and 
affection  for  the  elect  Curia  and  her  children.  It  enforces  the  com- 
mandment of  brotherly  love,  with  a  warning  against  the  doctrine  of 
false  teachers  and  against  fellowship  with  them.  It  was  written  mainly 
to  give  utterance  to  John's  gratification  at  the  discovery,  apparently 
made  on  one  of  his  apostolical  visitations  in  a  distant  city,  that  the 
children  of  this  pious  woman  were  walking  in  the  truth;  which  is 
followed  by  an  exhortation  to  observe  the  commandment  as  to  brotherly 
love,  and  a  warning  against  false  teachers  and  fellowship  with  them. 

The  Third  Epistle  is  addressed  to  Gaius,  a  prominent  man  in  the 
congregation  of  which  he  was  a  member,  though  it  cannot  be  deter- 
mined whether  he  was  an  elder  or  held  any  office  in  the  church.  After 
a  salutation  containing  the  remarkable  wish  that  he  might  prosper  and 
be  in  health  "even  as  his  soul  prospered,"  the  apostle  refers  with 
special  commendation  to  his  hospitality  to  missionary  brethren.  He 
next  deplores  the  opposition  of  the  ambitious  Diotrephes,  and  warns 
against  his  example.  Finally  he  commends  Demetrius,  the  probable 
bearer  of  this  Epistle,  to  the  friendly  and  Christian  regard  of  Gaius. 
It  admirably  sketches  these  three  distinct  portraits. 

In  such  care  for  the  churches,  and  for  individual  believers,  the  old 
age  and  life  of  the  apostle  passed  calmly  away.  He  was  "  diligent  in 
business."  He  not  only  preached,  but  was  active  with  the  pen,  where- 
by he  became  a  permanent  witness  for  the  truth  and  an  instructor  of 
the  Church.  These  three  Epistles  were  the  last  composed  of  his 
inspired  writings,  when  he  could  not  have  been  less  than  ninety  years 
of  age.  They  breathe  the  very  spirit  of  heaven,  and  bear  marks  of 
a  godly  man,  full  of  affection  as  well  as  of  years,  who  was  looking 
forward  to  the  grave  as  not  far  distant.  They  contain  the  concluding 
testimony  of  the  last  survivor  of  the  apostles,  the  last  of  the  race  of 
inspired  men,  and  his  tender  exhortations  to  holiness  and  love.  Love 
is  the  theme  on  which  he  dilates  as  he  draws  near  to  that  world  the  very 
atmosphere  of  which  is  love,  and  to  the  God  who  is  love. 

When  in  extreme  old  age  he  was  too  weak  to  walk  into  the  as- 
sembly, but,  as  Jerome l  relates,  was  still  borne  thither ;  unable  to 
deliver  a  long  discourse,  he  would  lift  his  trembling  hands,  and  simply 
say,  "Little  children,  love  one  another";  and  repeat  these  words 
again  and  again.  When  asked  why  he  constantly  repeated  this  ex- 

1  Epist.  ad  Gal.,  vi. 


HIS   LAST   DAYS   AND    DEATH.  383 

pression,  his  answer  was,  "  Because  this  is  the  command  of  the  Lord ; 
and  nothing  is  done  unless  this  thing  be  done." 1  He  probably,  of  all 
the  apostles  (unless  we  also  except  Peter,  with  whom  he  had  been  so 
intimately  associated),  was  the  only  one  who  died  a  natural  death. 

He  continued  to  the  beginning  of  the  second  century,  to  at  least  the 
third  year  of  the  emperor  Trajan,  and  could  not  have  been  less  than 
one  hundred  years  old  at  the  time  of  his  departure.  The  event  took 
place  at  Ephesus,  and  his  sacred  dust,  as  we  are  allowed  to  believe, 
awaits  the  resurrection  among  the  sepulchres  of  Mount  Prion.  Gently 
he  languished  into  life.  Slowly  he  sank  to  his  rest,  like  the  descend- 
ing sun  of  a  long  summer  day  to  its  setting.  There  was  no  sudden 
extinguishment  of  apostolic  light.  One  apostle  after  another  went 
to  his  rest ;  but  the  life  of  the  youngest  of  their  number  was  pro- 
longed to  the  greatest  age  of  all.  Nearly  or  quite  threescore  years  and 
ten  after  the  crucifixion  that  light  still  glimmered ;  and  when  it  went 
out,  it  was  not  as  the  sudden  gust  blows  out  a  candle,  but  it  burned  to 
the  very  socket.  And  when  men  were  ready  to  say,  "  Now  it  is  gone," 
it  would  flash  up  and  reveal  those  words  which  might  well  be  written 
in  letters  of  gold,  "  Little  children,  love  one  another." 

The  last  three  years  of  the  reign  of  Domitian  form  one  of  the  most 
frightful  periods  in  the  history  of  ancient  persecution.     The  most  dis- 
tinguished and  virtuous  had  to  bleed  for  their  excellence,  or  because  their 
virtues  distinguished  them.    He  banished  literary  and  cultivated  men 
from  Rome,  and  claimed  divine  honours  for  himself.     Flavius  Clemens, 
the  consul,  one  of  his  cousins,  being  accused  of  atheism  and  Jewish 
manners,  the  common  charge   against  Christians,   was  put  to  death; 
and  his  wife  Domitilla,  the  emperor's  niece,  was  banished.     Ecclesias- 
tical writers  attribute  to  him  a  general  persecution  of  the  Christians  ; 
in   which    doubtless    many  known   and   dear  to    St.   John   perished. 
Domitian  fell  by  the  dagger  of  the  assassin,  in  the  year  96.     Thus 
perished  the  last  of  the  Caesars,  of  whom  it  has  been  truly  said,   only 
four  deserve  the  respect  of  posterity  ;  Julius,  Augustus,  Vespasian  and 
Titus.     "Their  unparalleled  vices,"  says  Gibbon,   "and  the  splendid 
theatre  on  which  they  were  acted  have  saved  them  from   oblivion. 
The    dark    unrelenting    Tiberius,    the    furious    Caligula,    the   feeble 
Claudius,  the  profligate  and  cruel  Nero,  the  beastly  Vitellius,  and  the 
timid   rnhuman   Domitian  are  condemned   to   everlasting   infamy."2 
The  apostle  John,  born  under  the  reign  of  the  first  of  these  who  received 
the  title  of  emperor,  (to  wit,  Augustus,  who  is  reckoned  the  second  in 
the  list  of  the  Caesars)  was  contemporary  with  all  the  rest  and  pro- 
bably outlived  the  last. 

1  "  Et  si  solum  fiat,  sufficit." 

2  Decline  and  Fall,  chap,  iii.,  p.  96  ed.  Boston,  1853. 


'M  I  THE   LIFE  AND  WRITINGS  OF  ST.  JOHN. 

Domitia.n  \v:is  succeeded  by  Norva,  \vlio  roi^ned  but,  i,wo  years  :i.n«l 
wan  followed  A. i>.  i)H  by  Trajan.  A  I.  :MI  early  period  in  liis  rei<ni  ii  i 
supposed  that  Mie  apostle  John  closed  liis  |>i  |o;rima"^e,  '  :i,lid  went 
lo  join  j.lic  celestial  companies  of  vvlioni  lie  had  visioilH  in  I 'alums 
II,-  whom  Jesus  loved,  and  who  had  It'll.  I, lie  throbbing  of  I  he  lu-sirt  of 
eternal  mercy,  sees  Him  face  lo  face  ;md  is  like  Him  forever. 

The  legendary  history  of  St.  John  is  singularly  vivid  HIM!  beautiful, 
and  in  some  of  its  pa.rts  not  without  a  j^ood  deo-ree  of  probability.  If  in 
on  file  testimony  of  Tertiillian,  thai  the  statement  of  his  bein^  carried 
i,o  Koine,  and  (.here  c.ast  into  a,  caldron  of  boiling  oil  which  had  no 
power  lo  harm  him,  Jilmosl,  exclusively  rests.-  Jerome,  who  Iwice 
r(^fer,4  lo  I, his  subject,  in  our  instance  j^ives  Terlullian  M,S  liis  Muthorily, 
:i,nd  makes  I  he  further  slalemenl,  thai,  ii,  was  by  Nero:1  lie  was  immersed 
in  |, he  nil;  and  adds  thai,  he  came  out  more  pure  :uid  vigorous  Ihan 
when  he  was  put  in.  In  I  he  other  passage  he  speaks  of  the  apostle 
as  li:i,vintf  been  immediat(>ly  aTferwa.rds  banished  to  Talmos,1  i.e.  by 
Nero.  Tei'l  illlian,  who  wrote  near  the  end  of  Mm  second  century,  does 
not  appear  to  have  had  any  doubt  of  the  I  ruth  of  Mie  .statement  mado 
by  him.  Jerome  writes  as  if  he  cordia.lly  accepted  if.  (-live/1  Tille- 
mont,  and  ol  her  learned  men  haA'e  «lefended  it,  or  have  referred  to  i( 
afl  of  unquestionable  nuihenficiiy.  Hut  the  learned  and  critical 
Mosheim  thinks  it  admits  of  doubt,  uml  ha/.ards  the  conjecture  Mia.l 
tlu«  account  mi^lii  bo  jiofhin^  more  than  a  lij^ure,  which  had  been 
made  use  of  by  someone,  to  convey  a,  strong  idea,  of  the  peril  to  which 
St.  John  had  been  exposed,  and  thai  Tertullian,  who  was  strongly 
predisposed  lo  ca.leh  at  c\  cry  tiling  that  had  the  :ippe:ir:i.nco  of  a 
miracle,  instead  of  faking  wha.f  was  said  in  a  metaphorical  sense, 
understood  it  liferaJly.1'  Neither  Musebius  nor  Ori^en,  who  botli 
refer  lo  MM'  persecutions  of  St.  John,  by  name  make  any  allusion  to  his 
having  been  cast  info  the  boiling  oil;  and  no  other  record  remains  of 

1  Euseb.,  Hist.  Eool.,  ill.  28. 

9  In  an  apostrophe  to  the  church  at  Borne,  in  his  work,  De  Prascrip.  //</</,  .> rt.  i 

,„•  ,1  M      ,  i  n  .1  ,  (In-  |.lnvi>  \vlinv  SI,  I'dcr  nn. I  SI,  Tnul  ^niiu-.l  tin-  <-rown  of  ninrl.yr- 

dom,  he  adds:  "ubi  apostolus  Joannes  posteaquam,  in  oleum  i  mum  imimi 
nUiil  imsHUH  est." 

8  ••  Befert  Tertullianns  quod  a  Nerone  missus  in  ferventis  ..i.-i  .l.>i. nm  imiior  <i 
vegetior  exierit,  quam  intraverit."— Adv.  Jovin.,  i,,o.  14.    Monn  wtttti:  "ll.n 

jiortil.    plus  Niin  rt.    plus  f,..l,  ,,11'il   n'v  .-toil,  rnlrr."      Did,,   Art,   ,!,•„„.      And   Tillr- 

mont:  "II  en  sortit  mesme  encore  plus  net  et  plus  viK*1"""^  M"'1'   »'.v  cHtoit 
•Ota*."    "  Jean,"  Art.  V. 
4  "  Statimque  relegatus  in  Pathmos  insulam  Bit."    Oomment.  on  Matt.  xx.  28. 

"  llr    imikcs  tin-  rmpnor  I...   liii\«»   l>«'di    I  >omil  i;ni,    uml    s.-iy:;  :    "Ilinl,    I'roviiU'iu-o 
Mud,  s.-fiircd  l!:r  MiiTi'  llrlircw  ni|»t.i\rs  in  the  llunu-s  of  a  l.iiniin;:   fiirniuMi   l.r.>u.-.lii 

I  111   ,    ll.'K     mail    :  III.'   Olll,   »f    I  III::  -Ml,'    \Vollld    llll\c    I  h.>ll"lll    Illl.'IVoiil.'lllh'    .l.".|.Mlr|.|.Ul." 

fi  l''ii-!it  Three  (Viiturit'M,  I.  Cent,,  §  -'5(>,  A'cfc  ;   Life  of  SI.  John.      ;> 


'' 

• 


! 


LEGENDAEY  HISTORY.  385 

any  punishment  of  this  kind  being  inflicted  by  the  Romans.  Beauti- 
ful as  the  story  is  as  related  by  Jerome,  that  the  apostle  not  only 
came  forth  unhurt  but  more  strong  and  pure  than  when  he  was  thrust 
in,  there  can  be  little  doubt  it  must  find  its  place  among  the  legends, 
rather  than  in  history. 

In  regard  to  the.  tradition  that  he  met  with  shipwreck  when 
approaching  Ephesus,  noticed  on  a  preceding  page, T  there  would  seem 
to  be  no  inherent  or  antecedent  improbability  in  regard  to  it,  as  no 
motive  can  easily  be  conceived  for  the  invention  of  such  a  statement. 
In  this  respect  his  experience  might  have  been  somewhat  similar  to 
that  of  the  apostle  Paul,  in  the  same  sea.  It  adds  a  new  feature  to 
his  chequered  history,  of  which  we  have  no  glimpse  in  the  Scriptures. 
What  he  suffered,  or  how  long  it  may  have  delayed  his  arrival,  we 
know  not.  It  is  a  beautiful  and  picturesque  legend  that  St.  John  had 
a  tame  partridge  and  often  amused  himself  with  feeding  and  tending 
it ;  and  that  one  day  a  huntsman  passing  by  with  his  bow  and  arrows 
expressed  astonishment  at  seeing  the  great  apostle,  so  venerable  for 
age  and  sanctity,  thus  amuse  himself.  The  apostle  asked  him  if  he 
always  kept  his  bow  bent.  The  huntsman  answered,  "  That  would  be 
the  way  to  render  it  useless."  "If,"  replied  St.  John,  "you  unbend 
your  bow  to  prevent  its  being  useless,  I  unbend  my  mind  for  the  same 
reason."  c"  Such  a  legend  as  this  may  be  included  in  the  same  category 
with  the  traditions  concerning  his  shipwreck  and  his  pursuit  of  the 
young  robber,  as  having  a  foundation  in  truth.  There  is  an  exceeding 
naturalness  about  it ;  it  makes  him  appear  (great  apostle  as  he  was) 
as  a  man  like  ourselves,  having  the  same  infirmities  and  needs.  And, 
as  the  apostle  unquestionably  possessed  the  power  of  working  miracles, 
perhaps  the  following  may  be  included  in  the  same  list,  and  had  the 
miracle  been  wrought  at  an  earlier  period,  and  in  Jerusalem  or 
Palestine,  would  have  found  record  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 
When  St.  John  was  returning  from  Patmos,  having  sojourned  there  a 
year  and  a  day,  as  he  approached  Ephesus,  where  the  disciples  were 
awaiting  him  with  great  joy,  lo  !  a  funeral  procession  came  forth  from 
the  gates.  He  inquired  who  was  dead,  and  was  answered,  Drusiana. 
He  was  sad,  as  Drusiana  had  excelled  in  all  good  works  and  he  had 
been  an  inmate  of  her  house.  He  told  the  men  who  were  bearing  it  to 
set  the  bier  down ;  he  then  prayed  earnestly  that  God  would  restore 
her  to  life.  She  rose  up  and  returned  to  her  house,  and  the  apostle 
again  took  up  his  abode  with  her. 3  The  apostle  is  not  represented  as 

1  See  page  145,  note.  2  Cassian.,  Collat.,  xxiv.  2. 

3  See  Mrs.  Jameson's  Sacred  and  Legendary  Art,  i.,  p.  167.  The  incident  is  the 
subject  of  a  fine  fresco  by  Filippo  Lippi,  on  the  left-hand  wall  of  the  Strozzi  Chapel, 
Florence. 

2  c 


THE    LIFE    AND    WETTINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

touching  the  bier,  as  his  Master  did,  at  the  gates  of  Nain,  but  as  praying 
earnestly;  and  there  seems  to  be  the  same  distinction  preserved  between 
this  miracle  and  those  of  our  Lord  as  we  notice  in  those  recorded  by 
Luke  in  the  Acts,  and  those  recorded  in  the  Gospels. 

There  are  many  other  striking  and  beautiful  legends  of  which  as 
much  cannot  be  said  ;  for  example,  that  John  was  made  to  drink  of  a 
poisoned  cup,  intended  to  cause  his  death,  and  suffered  no  harm  from 
it ;  that  no  rain  fell  on  the  uncovered  oratory  near  Ephesus,  where  the 
narrators  of  the  story  say  that  he  penned  his  Gospel ;  that  two  young 
men,  who  had  sold  all  their  possessions  to  follow  him,  afterwards  re- 
pented, and  he  sent  them  to  gather  pebbles  and  fagots,  and  on  their 
return  changed  them  into  nuggets  and  ingots  of  gold,  saying,  "Take 
back  your  riches,  as  you  regret  having  exchanged  them  for  heaven  "; 
that  when  he  felt  his  death  approaching  he  gave  orders  for  the  pre- 
paration of  his  grave,  and  when  it  was  finished  calmly  laid  himself 
down  in  it,  and  died,  and  there  were  strange  movements  in  the  earth 
that  covered  him,  the  dust  gently  heaving,  like  the  covering  of  a  couch 
beneath  which  one  is  quietly  sleeping ;  and  that  sacred  oil  (according 
to  some)  and  manna  (according  to  others)  might  be  gathered  there  ; 
that  it  was  through  his  agency  the  great  temple  of  Diana  was  at  last 
reft  of  its  magnificence  and  levelled  with  the  ground.  And  so  of  the 
story  that  at  Ephesus,  as  one  who  was  a  true  priest  of  the  Lord,  he 
wore  on  his  brow  a  plate  of  gold,  lamina,  with  the  sacred  name  en- 
graved on  it  which  was  the  badge  of  the  Jewish  pontiff.  Credat 
Judceus  Apellcu  I  It  is  here  again  not  improbable  that  some  strong 
statement  of  an  early  writer  as  to  the  new  priesthood  was  misinter- 
preted., and  that  what  was  mere  rhetoric  was  mistaken  for  veritable 
history.1 

Most  accounts  of  St.  John's  life  give,  as  illustrating  his  character, 
some  notice  of  his  refusing  to  enter  the  bath  at  Ephesus  because 
Cerinthus  the  heretic  was  within.  It  rests  on  the  authority  of  Eusebius,2 
as  primarily  given  by  Ireneeus  as  a  narrative  orally  delivered  to  his 
hearers  by  Polycarp  ;  and  on  that  of  Epiphanius,  who,  with  his  accus- 
tomed inaccuracy,  substitutes  the  name  of  Ebion  for  that  of  Cerinthus 
while  evidently  recording  the  same  narrative.  There  are  other  im- 
portant discrepancies  in  the  two  accounts,  which  serve  to  throw  doubt 
over  the  whole  and  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  the  writers,  in  their  im- 
perfect  knowledge  of  some  actual  incident,  have  ascribed  to  the  apostle 
their  own  subjective  states  of  feeling  and  disposition  towards  heretics. 
The  conduct  and  words  ascribed  to  the  apostle  are  hardly  consistent 

1  For  numerous  stories  of  this  kind  aee  Lampe,  Prolegomena  in  Joannem,  I. , 
vi.  7  ;  and  Cave's  Lives,  §  9, 

2  Hist.  Eccl.,  iv.,  chap.  14. 


387 

with  that  sanctity  and  dignity  wherewith  he  always  appears  in  his 
writings  and  in  sacred  history. 

It  is  one  of  the  early  legends  concerning  this  apostle  that  he  was 
translated,  like  Enoch  and  Elijah ;  but  in  the  middle  ages,  and  even  in 
comparatively  modern  times,  the  saying  has  been  widely  spread  that  he 
still  lives  on  earth.  The  legendary  interpretation  of  his  Gospel  (chap. 
xxi.  22),  "  If  I  will  that  he  tarry  till  I  come,  what  is  that  to  thee  ?  " 
makes  the  words  expressive  of  the  mysterious  survival  of  the  apostle 
till  the  second  coming  of  Christ.  In  the  Menologium  Grsecum1  the 
grave  into  which  St.  John  descends  is,  according  to  the  legend,  in  the 
form  of  a  cross.  "  In  a  series  of  the  deaths  of  the  apostles  2  St.  John 
is  ascending  from  the  grave ;  for  according  to  the  Greek  legend  he 
died  without  pain  or  change,  and  immediately  rose  again  in  bodily 
form."  In  a  small  curious  picture  at  Rome 3  there  is  a  tomb  some- 
thing like  the  Xanthian  tombs  in  form.  One  end  is  open,  and  St. 
John  is  seen  issuing  from  it.  The  legend  which  supposes  him  preserved 
alive  on  the  earth  is  interesting  in  the  history  of  art,  and  has  been 
treated  in  sculpture. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  power  which  such  legends  exerted  over  the 
minds  of  men,  and  the  way  in  which  their  influence  might  sometimes 
prove  salutary  in  promoting  deeds  of  kindness  and  charity,  the  follow- 
ing is  taken  from  Mrs.  Jameson's  admirable  work. 

"  King  Edward  the  Confessor  had  a  special  veneration  for  St.  John. 
One  day  returning  from  his  church  at  Westminster,  where  he  had  been 
hearing  mass  in  honour  of  the  evangelist,  he  was  accosted  by  a  pil- 
grim, who  asked  him  for  an  alms  for  the  love  of  God  and  St.  John. 
The  king  drew  from  his  finger  a  ring,  and,  unknown  to  any  one,  de- 
livered it  to  the  beggar.  When  the  king  had  reigned  twenty-four 
years,  two  pilgrims,  Englishmen,  in  the  Holy  Land,  who  were  about 
to  return  to  England,  were  met  by  one  who  was  also  in  the  habit  of  a 
pilgrim,  who  inquired  of  what  country  they  were  ;  and  being  told, '  Of 
England,'  he  said  to  them,  '  When  ye  shall  have  arrived  in  your  own 
country,  go  to  King  Edward,  and  salute  him  in  my  name.  Say  to  him 
that  I  thank  him  for  the  alms  bestowed  on  me  in  a  certain  street  in 
Westminster  ;  for  there  on  a  certain  day,  as  I  begged  of  him  an  alms, 
he  bestowed  on  me  this  ring.  And  ye  shall  carry  it  back  to  him,  say- 
ing that  in  six  months  from  this  time  he  shall  quit  the  world,  and  come 
and  remain  with  me  for  ever.' 

"  The  pilgrims,  being  astonished,  said,  '  Who  art  thou,  and  where  is 
thy  dwelling-place  ?  '  And  he  answering  said,  '  I  am  John  the  Evan- 

1  Vatican  MSS.,  tenth  century. 

2  MSS.,  ninth  century,  Paris  National  Library,  referred  to  by  Mrs.  Jameson. 

3  Vatican  Christian  Museum.    Idem,  page  160,  vol.  i. 


388  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OP   ST.  JOHN. 

gelist.  Edward,  your  king,  is  *my  friend,  and  for  the  sanctity  of  his 
life  I  hold  him  dear.  Go  now  therefore,  deliver  him  this  message  and 
this  ring ;  and  I  will  pray  to  God  that  ye  may  arrive  safely  in  your 
own  country.'  He  then  vanished  out  of  their  sight.  The  pilgrims, 
praising  and  thanking  the  Lord  for  this  vision,  went  on  their  journey. 
Arrived  in  England,  they  repaired  to  the  king  and  delivered  the  ring 
and  message.  The  king  received  the  news  joyfully,  and  conferred 
honour  on  the  pilgrims.  He  then  set  himself  to  prepare  for  his  de- 
parture from  the  world,  and  died  according  to  the  message  he  had  re- 
ceived. According  to  one  account,  the  pilgrims  met  him  near  his 
palace  at  Waltham,  at  a  place  since  called  Havering.  This  legend  is 
represented  along  the  top  of  the  screen  of  Edward  the  Confessor's 
chapel,  in  three  compartments."  l 

It  is  a  legend  on  which  poets  as  well  as  artists  have  seized.  One  of 
the  most  celebrated  poets  of  our  day  has  made  it  the  subject  of  the 
finale  of  the  principal  production  of  his  pen ;  and  for  beauty  of  ex- 
pression and  conception  it  is  worthy  of  him  and  the  place  he  has 
assigned  it.  3 

But,  in  the  words  of  Professor  Plumptre,  "  we  find  it  better  and 
more  satisfying  to  turn  again  for  all  our  conceptions  of  the  apostle's 
mind  and  character  to  the  scanty  records  of  the  New  Testament  and 
the  writings  which  he  himself  has  left.  The  truest  thought  that  we  can 
attain  to  is  still  that  he  was  *  the  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved,'  return- 
ing that  love  with  a  deep,  absorbing,  and  unwavering  devotion.  One  as- 
pect of  that  feeling  is  seen  in  the  zeal  for  his  Master's  glory,  the  burning 
indignation  against  all  that  seemed  to  outrage  it,  which  runs  with  its 
fiery  gleam  through  his  whole  life,  and  makes  him  from  first  to  last  one 
of  the  '  sons  of  thunder.'  To  him,  more  than  to  any  other  disciple,  there 
is  no  neutrality  between  Christ  and  Antichrist.  The  spirit  of  such  a 
man  is  intolerant  of  compromises  and  concessions.  The  same  strong 
personal  affection  shows  itself  in  another  form,  in  the  chief  charac- 
teristics of  his  Gospel.  While  the  other  evangelists  record  principally 
the  discourses  and  parables  which  were  spoken  to  the  multitude,  he 
treasures  up  every  word  and  accent  of  dialogues  and  conversations 
which  must  have  seemed  to  most  men  less  conspicuous.  In  the  absence 
of  any  recorded  narrative  of  his  work  as  a  preacher,  in  the  silence  in 
which  he  appears  to  have  kept  for  so  many  years,  he  comes  before  us  as 
one  who  lives  in  the  unseen,  eternal  world,  rather  than  in  that  of  secular 

1  Sacred  and  Legendary  Art,  pp.  170,  171. 

2  When   calling  on   Mr.  Longfellow   at  his   home  in  Cambridge,  in  company 
with  Professor  Warren,  now  President  of  the  Boston  University,  the  poet  presented 
the  author  with  a  copy  of  this  gem  before  it  was  yet  published,  and  explained  the 
place  it  was  destined  to  fill  in  the  completed  poem. 


HE   IS   THE   APOSTLE    OP   LOVE.  389 

or  even  spiritual  activity.  If  there  is  less  apparent  power  to  enter  into 
the  minds  and  hearts  of  men  of  different  temperament  and  education, 
less  ability  to  become  all  things  to  all  men,  than  there  is  in  St.  Paul, 
there  is  a  perfection  of  another  kind.  The  image  mirrored  in  his  soul 
is  that  of  the  Son  of  man,  who  is  also  the  Son  of  God.  He  is  the 
Apostle  of  Love,  not  because  he  starts  from  the  easy  temper  of  a  general 
benevolence,  nor  again  as  being  of  a  character  soft,  yielding,  feminine  ; 
but  because  he  has  grown  ever  more  and  more  into  the  likeness  of  Him 
whom  he  loved  so  truly.  Nowhere  is  the  vision  of  the  Eternal  Word, 
the  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father,  so  unclouded ;  nowhere 
are  there  such  distinctive  personal  reminiscences  of  the  Christ  Kara  o-dpKa, 
in  His  most  distinctively  human  characteristics.  It  was  this  union  of 
the  two  aspects  of  the  truth  which  made  him  so  truly  the  *  Theologus ' 
of  the  whole  company  of  the  apostles,  the  instinctive  opponent  of  all 
forms  of  a  mystical,  or  logical,  or  Docetic  gnosticism." 1 

1  See  Smith's  Dictionary  of  Bible,  Art.  John  the  Apostle. 


CHAPTER  XY. 
ANALYSES  OF  THE  EPISTLES,  WITH  EXPLANATORY  NOTES. 

THEME  OF   THE  FIRST    EPISTLE. — FELLOWSHIP. 1.   ITS    NATURE,  AS  EFFECTED 

BY  THE  INCARNATION  AND  SACRIFICE  OF  CHRIST. — AS  AFFORDING  NO 
GROUND  FOR  THE  DENIAL  OF  SINFULNESS. — AS  THE  ONLY  SUFFICIENT  BASIS 
OF  BROTHERLY  LOVE. — GREAT  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  SUBJECT  TO  ALL 

CHRISTIANS. — NON-FELLOWSHIP      WITH      THE      WORLD. NON-FELLOWSHIP 

WITH    ANTICHRISTIAN    ERROR. — ITS    RELATION     TO    SONSHIP    AND     FUTURE 

GLORY. II.     FRUIT    OF     FELLOWSHIP. HOLINESS. BROTHERLY     LOVE. — 

OTHER  FRUITS. — III.  LAW  OF  FELLOWSHIP,  TRUTH. — IV.  LIFE  OF  FEL- 
LOWSHIP, LOVE. — V.  ROOT  OF  FELLOWSHIP,  FAITH. — EFFICACY  OF  FAITH. 
THREE  WITNESSES  TO  THE  SUFFICIENCY  OF  FAITH. — FAITH  IN  INTER- 
CESSORY PRAYER. — CONCLUSION  OF  FIRST  EPISTLE. — THEME  OF  SECOND 

EPISTLE BROTHERLY    LOVE     AND    WARNING    AGAINST      FELLOWSHIP    WITH 

FALSE  TEACHERS. TO  WHOM  THE    EPISTLE    IS   ADDRESSED. THE  INCIDENT 

WHICH    LED    TO    THE    WRITING    OF     IT. — GREETINGS. THEME     OF     THIRD 

EPISTLE. — THREE  PORTRAITS. —  CHARACTER  OF  GAICS. —  CHARACTER  OF 
DIOTREPHES.- — CHARACTER  OF  DEMETRIUS. FINAL  GREETINGS. 

THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  JOHN. 

SUBJECT  OF  THE  EPISTLE. — Christian  Fellowship  in  its  twofold 
aspect ;  the  union  of  believers  with  God  and  His  Son  Jesus  Christ, 
and  their  union  with  one  another. 

I.  Fellowship,  its  Nature. — Chapter  I.  to  III.  2. 

1.  The  nature  of  fellowship  presented  as  effected  by  the  incarnation  and 

death  of  Christ. 

!•]  [Yer.  1-7. 

THAT  which  was  from  the  beginning,1  which  we  have  heard, 

which  we  have  seen  with  our  eyes,  which  we  have  looked  upon, 

1  A  comparison  of  the  opening  of  this  Epistle  with  that  of  the  Gospel  by  the 
same  writer  shows  a  striking  similarity.  It  is  addressed  to  no  particular  place,  person, 
or  body  of  Christians ;  and  while  it  was  originally  addressed  to  the  churches  of 


I.   JOHN   I.  391 

2  and  our  hands  have  handled,1  of  the  Word  of  life ;  (for  the  life 
was  manifested,  and  we  have  seen  it,  and  bear  witness,  and 
show  unto  you  that  eternal  life,  which  was  with  the  Father,  and 

*  was  manifested  unto  us ;)  that  which  we  have  seen  and  heard 
declare  we  unto  you,  that  ye  also  may  have  fellowship  with  us  : 
and  truly  our  fellowship 2  is  with  the  Father,  and  with  His  Son 

4  Jesus  Christ.     And  these  things  write  we  unto  you,  that  your 

5  joy  may  be  full.3    This  then  is  the  message  which  we  have 
heard  of  Him,  and  declare  unto  you,  that  God  is  light,4  and  in 

6  Him  is  no  darkness  at  all.     If  we  say  that  we  have  fellowship 
with  Him,  and  walk  in  darkness,  we  lie,  and  do  not  the  truth  : 

7  but  if  we  walk  in  the  light,  as  He  is  in  the  light,  we  have 


Asia  Minor,  it  may  be  regarded  as  a  circular  letter  to  the  people  of  God  generally. 
What  has  been  said  of  the  writings  of  St.  John  at  large  may  be  applied  with  pecu- 
liar emphasis  to  this  portion  of  them  :  "  They  are  still  waters,  which  run  deep  ; 
flowing  along  with  the  easiest  words,  but  the  most  profound  meaning."  (Herder.) 

1  One  of  the  earliest  forms  of  heresy  did  not  relate  to  the  Divinity,  but  to  the 
humanity  of  Christ.     There  were  those  already  who  denied  the  reality  of  His  incar- 
nation, the  true  union  of  a  human  and  Divine  nature  in  His  one  person.   His  incar- 
nation they  held  was  but  an  appearance  or  seeming.      The  apostle,  without  entering 
into  a  formal  argument  like  St.  Paul,  contents  himself  with  setting  forth  in  his 
emphatic  manner  the  positive  truth,  that  the  only  way  in  which  we  can  have  fel- 
lowship with  the  Father  must  be  through  the  incarnation  and  mediation  of  His  Son. 
The  analysis  herewith  presented  contemplates  this  as  the  one  topic,  and  the  exposi- 
tion indicated  will  be  readily  seen  to  justify  the  statement  that  it  is  the  true  subject. 
It  is  comparatively  recently  that  there  has  been  any  attempt  at  an  analysis  of  this 
Epistle.     The  Lutheran  expositors  held  that  the  Epistle  was  without  method. 
Calvin,  after  describing  it  as  containing  doctrine  mixed  with  exhortations,  says : 
"  Verum  nihil  horum  continua  serie  facit ;  nam  sparsim  docendo  et  exhortando 
varius  est :   praasertim  vero  multus  est  in  urgenda  fraterna  intellectione.     Alia 
quoque  breviter  attingit." 

2  "Iva  KOL  iVtets  Kowuviav,  K.T.\.     This  fellowship  is  effected  through  our  having 
fellowship  with  the  Father.     Besides  the  Father,  His  Son  Jesus  Christ  is  men- 
tioned, and  their  identity  or  oneness  recognised.     It  was  in  and  through  His  Son 
that  He  came  near  to  man  that  man  might  come  near  to  God,  and  the  broken 
fellowship  be  restored.     Those  who  denied  the  incarnation  and  humanity  of  Christ 
perfectly  obscured  the  plan  by  which  sinful  men  could  be  restored  to  fellowship  with 
God.       The  apostle  means  that  fellowship  or  communion  which  extends  to  the 
whole  redeemed  church  of  God,  which    does  not  depend  on   personal  contact  or 
association  of  the  individuals,  but  is  consistent  with  their  personal  remoteness  from 
one  another. 

3  There  may  be  a  contrast  designed  here  with  the  irX^/joj/ta  of  the  Gnostics. 

4  The  subject  of  this  Epistle  being  communion  with  God,  it  became  of  the  highest 
importance  that  its  readers  should  have  right  conceptions   of   Him  with  whom, 
through  the  incarnation  of  Christ,  we  may  be  brought  into  such  intimate  fellowship. 
The  figure  expresses  the  purity  and  perfection  of  the  Being  with  whom  believers 
are  brought  into  fellowship,  t^riv  avrrj  17  dyyeXla     .     .     .     STI  b  Qeds  $ws  eort. 


392  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OP    ST.  JOHN. 

fellowship  one   with  another,*  and  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ 
His  Son  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin.2 


2.   'Fellowship  as  affording  no  ground  for  the  denial  of  our  sinfulness. 
I.  8.]  [II.  5. 

8  If  we  say  that  we  have  no  sin,3  we  deceive  ourselves,  and 

9  the  truth  is  not  in  us.     If  we  confess  4  our  sins,  He  is  faithful 
and  just  to   forgive  us  our  sins,  and  to  cleanse  us   from  all 

}0  unrighteousness.     If  we  say  that  we  have  not  sinned,  we  make 

Him  a  liar,5  and  His  word  is  not  in  us. 
II.] 

1     My  little  children,  these  things  write  I  unto  you,  that  ye  sin 
not.     And  if  any  man  sin,  we  have  an  advocate6  with   the 


1  Mer'  airrou  is  substituted  chiefly  by  the  Latin  Codd.  for  /XCT  a\\rj\ui>,  making  the 
sense  to  be  that  we  have  fellowship  with  God.     But  it  is  better  to  understand  the 
apostle  as  saying  here  that  our  fellowship  with  God  leads  to  fellowship  with  Christian 
brethren.     It  is  a  fellowship  that  first  unites  earth  and  heaven,  and  then  binds  the 
discordant  materials  of  earth  together. 

2  The  Sinaitic  MS.  reads  a^aprLas  i]/j.uv ;  "  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  His  Son, 
cleanseth  us  from  all  our  sin." 

3  The  apostle  having  shown  that  believers  are  brought  into  fellowship  with  God 
guards  this  glorious  truth  against  antinomian  abuse,  and  self  righteous  pride.   He 
affirms  that  the  man,  whoever  he  may  be,  though  he  has  been,  or  hopes  he  has  been, 
exalted  to  the  highest  honour  possible  to  a  creature  on  earth,  even  that  of  fellowship 
with  God,  and  who  says  he  has  no  sin,  plays  the  part  of  a  deceiver  on  himself,  and 
attempts  that  towards  himself  which  he  would  find  it  difficult  to  forgive  should  the 
attempt  be  made  by  another.     He  becomes  a  liar  to  and  about  himself.     Matthew 
Henry  in  one  of  his  pregnant  sentences  says,  "  The  Christian  religion  is  the  religion 
of  sinners."     The  man  who  is  not  ready  to  own  himself  a  sinner  finds  nothing  in 
this  religion  suited  to  his  case. 

4  Confession  is  the   duty  of  Christians,   even  those  most  favoured  with  the 
privileges  of  grace.    Instead  of  any  of  them  ever  saying,  elated  with  a  conceit  of 
their  own  goodness,  that  they  have  no  sin,  that,  as  God  has  taken  them  into 
fellowship  with  Himself,  they  have  become  as  holy  in  heart  and  life  as  the  law  of 
God  requires,  it  becomes  them  all  to  cry  out  before  the  mercy-seat,  "  Have  pity  upon 
us,  for  we  are  miserable  sinners." 

6  It  is  not  only  a  deception  practised  on  ourselves  when  we  say  we  are  not  sinners, 
it  is  a  falsehood  which  contradicts  what  God  has  most  solemnly  and  emphatically 
declared  in  His  word,  and  which  therefore  makes  Him  a  liar.  Shall  they  who 
have  been  brought  into  fellowship  with  God,  and  whom  God  requires  continually  to 
own  their  sinfulness,  reply  that  they  have  no  sin  ?  Shall  they  ever  say  that  they 
have  arrived  at  a  state  in  which  they  do  not  daily  need  pardon  ? 

6  The  inspired  writers  preach  that  salvation  is  wholly  of  grace,  without  giving  any 
patronage  to  sin  ;  that  we  are  saved  through  faith,  without  the  works  of  the  law,  and 
yet  without  any  disparagement  of  works.  We  have  an  advocate,  TrapdK\-rjTov.  An 
advocate  is  one  who  pleads  or  vindicates  the  cause  of  another  ;  specifically  one  who 
performs  this  service  before  a  judicial  tribunal.  The  term  used  in  the  original,  in 


i.  JOHN  ii.  393 

2  Father,  Jesus  Christ  the  righteous  :  and  He  is  the  propitiation1 
for  our  sins  :  and  not  for  ours  only,  but  also  for  the  sins  of  the 

3  whole  world.2    And  hereby  we  do  know 3  that  we  know  Him,  if 

4  we  keep  His  commandments.     He  that  saith,  I  know  Him,  and 
keepeth  not  His  commandments,  is  a  liar,  and  the  truth  is  not 

5  in  him.     But  whoso  keepeth  His  word,  in  him  verily  is  the  love 
of  God  perfected :  hereby  know  we  that  we  are  in  Him. 


3.  Felloiuship  as  the  only  sufficient  basis  of  brotherly  love. 

[Ver.  6-11. 

6  He  that  saith  he  abideth  in  Him  ought  himself  also  so  to 

7  walk,4  even  as  He  walked.     Brethren,   I  write  no  new  com- 
mandment unto  you,  but  an  old  commandment  which  ye  had 

this  place,  has  nothing  perhaps  fully  answering  to  it  in  English.  It  sometimes 
means  a  comforter,  as  when  it  was  applied  by  our  Saviour,  in  His  valedictory  address 
to  His  disciples,  to  the  Holy  Spirit.  Sometimes  it  may  be  regarded  as  meaning  an 
intercessor,  one  who  frames  and  offers  petitions  in  behalf  of  another.  And  some- 
times, as  here,  where  it  has  been  judiciously  rendered  an  advocate,  one  who  appears 
before  a  tribunal  of  justice  in  the  cause  of  an  accused  person  ;  but  in  this  case  not 
a  tribunal  for  the  trial,  i.e.,  to  prove  the  guilt,  or  to  secure  the  acquittal  of  the 
accused.  There  are  courts  among  men  before  which  advocates  may  appear  for  men 
found  guilty  and  condemned  to  imprisonment  or  death,  to  plead  for  the  removal  or 
mitigation  of  the  sentence.  The  office  they  perform  more  nearly  corresponds  to 
that  which  the  great  Advocate  in  heaven  fills  for  those  who  entrust  their  cause  with 
Him.  He  pleads  that  they  may  be  pardoned,  and  in  being  delivered  from  the  guilt 
may  be  delivered  from  the  power  of  sin. 

1  The  Greek  word  !Aa<r/*6s,  translated  propitiation,  is  found  nowhere  else  in  the 
N.  T.  but  in  chap.  iv.  10  of  this  Epistle.    It  occurs  often  in  the  Greek  version  of 
the  0.  T.,  where  it  means  a  sacrifice  of  atonement.    In  the  fact  that  Christ  offered 
Himself  as  such  a  sacrifice  is  found  His  chief  qualification  to  be  our  Advocate  with 
the  Father. 

2  Jesus  Christ  is  the  only,  the  all-sufficient,  the  universal  atonement  and  pro- 
pitiation for  sin. 

3  Obedience  is  the  highest  test  of  our  having  any  real  interest  in  Christ.     The 
great  and  good  President  Edwards  called  this  the  very  sign  of  signs,  the  evidence  of 
evidences.     If  such  obedience  does  not  characterize  us,  our  very  life  confutes  and 
gives  the  lie  to  our  pretensions  and  professions.     "  Those  who  have  attained,"  says 
Bengel,  "  through  the  power  of  the  gospel  to  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  serve  God  in  a 
new  and  willing  spirit ;  and  this  is  called  keeping  the  commandments." 

4  Christ  appeared  in  bodily,  palpable  form  and  shape  here  on  earth ;  could  be 
heard,  seen,  and  handled ;  He  "  walked,"  mingled  with  men  in  the  realities  of  life, 
was  no  mere  shadowy  appearance  or  vision  passing  before  the  eyes  of  men.     He 
came  into  actual  contact  with  men,  and  discharged  all  the  duties  belonging  to  Him 
as  a  man.     There  must  be  in  His  followers  something  just  as  positive  and  visible, 
a  walk  among  men,  like  His,  in  keeping  the  commandments  of  God,  if  they  would 
abide  in  love  and  fellowship  with  Him.  « 


394  THE    LIFE    AND   WRITINGS    OP    ST.  JOHN. 

from   the   beginning.     The    old1  commandment  is  the  word 

8  which  ye  have    heard   from   the   beginning.2     Again,   a  new 
commandment3  I  write  unto  you,  which  thing  is  true  in  Him 
and  in  you :  because  the  darkness  is  past,  and  the  true  light 

9  now  shineth.     He  that  saith  he  is  in  the  light,  and  hateth  his 

10  brother,  is  in  darkness 4  even  until  now.     He  that  loveth  his 
brother  abideth  in  the  light,  and  there  is  none   occasion  of 

11  stumbling   in   him.     But    he    that   hateth   his   brother  is   in 
darkness,  and  walketh  in  darkness,  and  knoweth  not  whither 
he  goeth,  because  that  darkness  hath  blinded  his  eyes. 

1  This  law  was  in  one  sense  as  old  as  the  creation  of  man,  as  old  as  the   first 
revelation  of  a  Saviour,  as  the  first  organization  of  the  visible  church ;  it  was  as 
old  as  the  law  of  Sinai. 

2  But  this  expression  is  probably  to  be   understood  as  referring,  specifically,  to 
the  beginning  of  the  gospel  as  first  preached  by  Christ  Himself.     It  was  no  in- 
vention of  the  apostle's. 

3  By  the  commandment,  ^  eivo\r),  is  not  necessarily  to  be  understood  any  single 
commandment,   but  "the  message"   (i.  5),  "the  word"  (ii.  5),  the  gospel.     The 
apostle  means  the  same  commandment  he  had  just  denominated  old.    He  calls 
that  new,  which  he  had  just  spoken  of  as  old,  because  it  is  and  must  always  remain 
a  new  commandment  in  its  constantly  asserted  claims,  it  can  never  become  obsolete. 
It  has  not  had  its  day,  because  it  has  existed  from  the  beginning.     It  is  true  "  the 
commandment "  here  has  been  understood  as  referring  to  the  particular  command 
requiring   brotherly    love ;    which    was   "  old "    as    found    first    in    the    0.    T. 
(Lev.  xix.    18),   "new"   as  re-affirmed    and   enlarged   by   Christ   in    the   N.   T. 
(St.  John  xiii.  34).     And  this  precept  might  be  called  new,   as  the  reasons  which 
enforce  it  under  the  new  dispensation  are  so  new  and  peculiar  that  it  seems  almost 
like  a  law  never  before  proclaimed.     But  this  latter  interpretation  does  not  preserve 
the  connection  as  naturally  and  thoroughly  as  that  which  refers  the  commandment 
to  the  entire  word,  or  gospel,  the  whole  sum  of  the  Christian  life,  holiness,  spring- 
ing from  the  imitation  of  Christ  Himself,  appearing  not  in  conformity  to  one  com- 
mandment, but  to  all ;  of  which,  however,  the  precept  to  love  one  another  fills  the 
most  important  place.     The  apostle,  in  thus  making  the  law  by  which  we   are 
introduced  to  fellowship  with  God  consist  in  keeping  the  commandments  of  Christ 
and  imitating  His  example,  has  a  special  object  in  view,  to  wit,  to  discover  to  us 
the  basis  on  which  fraternal  love  and  fellowship  must  repose. 

4  The  apostle,  having  pointed  out  the  true  and  only  basis  of  this  fellowship  and 
love,  proceeds  to  unfold  its  binding  obligation.     As  light  is  figurative  of  truth  and 
grace  as  revealed  by  Christ,  darkness  is  figurative  of  gentilism,  of  Jewish  unbelief, 
of  the  blindness  of  the  unredeemed,  infidel  world.     Now  the  apostle  affirms  that 
he  that  hateth  his  brother,  however  he  may  claim  to  be  enlightened,  is  still  in  this 
darkness,  the  darkness  of  non-Christianity;  he  practically  denies  or  rejects  Christian- 
ity.    When  St.  John  says  brother,  he  means,  however,  not  at  least  exclusively  the 
natural  relation,  but  Christian  brother ;  and  therefore  is  not  pointing  out  so  much 
what  belongs  to  brothers  by  birth,  or  the  duty  of  general  philanthropy,  as  the  love 
Christians  owe  one  another  as  brethren. 


i.  JOHN  ii.  395 


4.    The  great  importance  of  this  subject  to  all  Christians,  even  the 
feeblest  and  the  youngest. 

[Yer.  12-14. 

12  I  write *  unto  you,  little  children/  because 3  your  sins  are 

13  forgiven  you  for  His  name's  sake.     I  write  unto  you,  fathers/ 
because  ye   have   known  Him  that  is5   from    the  beginning. 
I  write  unto  you,  young 6  men,  because  ye  have  overcome  the 
wicked  one.     I  write  unto  you,  little  children/  because  ye  have 

14  known  the  Father.     I  have  written  unto  you,  fathers,  because 
ye   have   known   Him   that   is   from   the  beginning.     I  have 
written  unto  you,  young  men,  because  ye  are  strong,  and  the 
word   of  God   abideth   in   you,   and    ye    have   overcome   the 
wicked  one. 


1  What  is  omitted  at  the  beginning,  to  wit,  the  particular  address  of  this  Epistle, 
is  here  introduced.    It  is  specifically  addressed  to  the  various  classes  among  all 
Christians,  by  terms  universal  and  perpetual. 

2  First  the  apostle   addresses   all   Christians  indiscriminately  and  collectively, 
using  this  form  of  address  here,  as  in  verses  1  and  28  of  this  chapter,  as  a  general 
term  of  endearment  for  all  Christians,  without  reference  to  age  or  attainments. 

3  The  word  rendered  because,  6'ri,  is  not  a  demonstrative  conjunction,  but  is  what 
is  denominated  a  causal  conjunction,  i.e.,  it  assigns  the  motive  or  ground  why  the 
apostle  wrote. 

4  The  apostle,  having  addressed  Christians  generally,  proceeds  next  to  address 
them  in  classes,  using  the  different  terms  of  appellation,  fathers,  young  men,  and 
little   children.    He  means  by  fathers  the  aged  or  older  and  more  experienced 
Christians,  including  of  course  those  who  .had  attained  to  the  highest  degree  of 
spiritual  progress. 

5  Omitting  the  words  in  italics,  that  is,  it  will  read,  "  ye  have  known  Him  from 
the  beginning,"  referring  not  to  the  eternal  being  of  the  Son  with  the  Father,  a 
truth  which  is  found  in  St.  John  i.  1  and  in  1  John  i.  1,  but  to  the  period  when 
their  first  knowledge  of  Christ  commenced,  i.e. ,  not  by  personal  contact  when  He , 
was  upon  earth,  but  by  faith  and  experience. 

6  The  term  in  the  Greek  for  young  men,  veavto-Koi,  means  those  who  have  reached 
the  full,  as  well  as  those  in  the  earliest  prune,  of  manhood.  (See  Bobinson's  Lex.) 

7  Little  children,  in  verse  12,  was  explained  as  an  affectionate  title  by  which  the 
apostle  designated  Christians  generally,  whether  aged  or  young.    As  the  word  hi 
the  original  here  is  not  reKvia,  but  Traidla,  it  is  not  to  be  taken  as  a  term  of  endear- 
ment merely,  which  may  be  applied  to  any  and  all  Christians,  but  as  nteaning 
children  or  young  persons  literally.    If  the  apostle  had  intended  to  designate 
Christians  generally,  he  would  again  have  used  the  former  term  reKvia.    In  these 
several  addresses  the  apostle  in  tended  to  cover  all  the  periods  of  life,  and  of  course  all 
degrees  of  spiritual  attainment  among  Christians,  as  found  from  early  childhood  to 
the  very  extreme  of  life.     The  great  subject  of  the  Epistle,  fellowship  with  God, 
was  of  the  highest  importance  to  all. 


396  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OP    ST.  JOHN. 

5.  Non-fellowship  with  the  world. 

[Ver.  15-17. 

15  Love1  not  the  world,  neither  the   things   that  are  in  the 
world.     If2  any  man  love  the  world,  the  love  of  the  Father 

16  is  not  in  him.     For 3  all  that  is  in  the  world,  the  lust  of  the 
flesh,  and  the  lust  of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride  of  life,  is  not  of 

17  the  Father,   but   is   of  the   world.     And   the  world  passeth4 
away,  and  the  lust  thereof:  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  God 
abideth  for  ever. 

6.  Non-fellowship  with  antichristian  error. 

[Yer.  18-29. 

18  Little  children,5  it  is  the  last6  time  :  and  as  ye  have  heard  that 

1  Non-fellowship  with  the  world,  which  consists  in  loving  it  not,  belongs  essen- 
tially to  the  great  subject  of  fellowship  with  God,  as  the  latter  cannot  exist  without 
the  former.     "  World,"  6  /c6o>tos,  is  a  term  used  in  opposition  to  the  Father  and  the 
Son,  and  the  redeemed  family  of  God,  and  denotes  the  visible,  material  world  which 
appeals  to  the  sensual,  carnal  appetites  and  desires.     It  is  that  love  of  the  world 
which  is  a  predominating  principle,  which  excludes  the  love  of  God,  which  is  prohi- 
bited. 

2  The  apostle  assigns  several  reasons  for  the  prohibition  in  regard  to  loving  the 
world.     The  first  is,  that  this  love  is  wholly  and  absolutely  inconsistent  with  our 
loving  and  having  fellowship  with  God.     The  one  love  is  exclusive  and  expulsive  of 
the  other.   Says  the  Venerable  Bede  :  "  Unum  cor  duos  tarn  sibi  adversarios  amores 
non  capit.^ 

3  The  second  reason  is,  that  such  love  of  the  world  is  the  great  principle  of  evil 
and  non-fellowship  with  God.     We  have  first  a  description  of  the  things  in  which 
that  worldliness  consists,  which  we  are  to  avoid  :  (1)  Sensuality,  or  the  lust  of  the 
flesh  ;  (2)  Avarice,  or  the  lust  of  the  eyes,  which  are  delighted  with  riches,  impos- 
ing equipage,  etc. ;  (3)  Ambition,  or  the  pride  of  life,  which  covets  distinction  and 
power.      We  have,  in  the  second  place,  an  important  fact  in  regard  to  these  prin- 
ciples of  evil ;  viz.,  that  they  are  the  three  great  principles  of  evil  in  the  world. 
And  they  are  mentioned  in  the  order  of  their  degree  of  subtilty  as  temptations  ;  so 
that  we  are  here  presented  with  what  may  well  be  denominated  the  philosophy  of 
temptation.  There  is  first  a  temptation  addressed  to  the  grosser  appetites ;  secondly, 
we  have  temptation  as  addressed  to  the  external  senses  of  the  body,  as  inlets  from 
the  outer  world ;  thirdly,  temptation  as  addressed  to  the  sensibilities  or  affections 
of  our  inner  nature.     The  temptations  of  both  the  first  and  the  second  Adam  strik- 
ingly illustrate  this  subject. 

4  The  third  reason  for  not  loving  too  devotedly  the  world  is  found  in  its  transitori- 
ness  and  vanity,  and  the  certain  disappointment  that  must  attend  its  being  made  the 
supreme  end  of  pursuit. 

6  IlcuSt'cc,  little  children,  the  same  as  in  verse  13  ;  and  Ebrard  holds  that  on  account 
of  the  peculiarly  childlike  character  of  this  section,  the  reference  is  only  to  the  little 
ones,  or  to  children  literally,  the  same  who  are  addressed  in  verse  13. 

6  There  is  no  allusion  to  the  end  of  Jerusalem  and  the  Jewish  polity,  which  had 
already  passed  away  ;  but  the  meaning  is  that  the  final  dispensation  was  commenced, 
to  end  only  with  time. 


I.   JOHN    IT.  397 

antichrist1  shall  come,  even  now  are  there  many  antichrists; 

19  whereby  we  know  that  it  is  the  last  time.  They  went  out  from 3 
us,  but  they  were  not  of  us ;  for  if  they  had  been  of  us,  they 
would  no  doubt  have  continued  with  us :  but  they  went  out,  that 

20  they  might  be  made  manifest  that  they  were  not  all  of  us.    But 
ye  have  an  unction  3  from  the  Holy  One,  and  ye  know  all  things. 

21 1  have  not  written  unto  you  because  ye  know  not  the  truth,4 
22  but  because  ye  know  it,  and  that  no  lie  is  of  the  truth.  Who  is 


1  We  do  not  find  that  polemical  object  or  character  in  this  Epistle  some  have  endea- 
voured to  trace  in  it.  It  is,  of  course,  polemical  in  that,  being  true,  it  is  the  touch- 
stone of  error.  While  the  Epistle  opens  with  statements  in  direct  contradiction  of 
the  Docetic  heresy,  denying  the  reality  of  Christ's  manifestation  in  the  flesh,  it  was 
not  written  to  refute  the  errors  of  Cerinthus  or  of  the  Gnostics.  "  The  apostle," 
says  Liicke,  "explicitly  assures  his  readers  (ver.  21)  that  he  has  not  spoken  of  the 
antichristian  heresies  because  he  considered  them  a  prey  to  the  seducers,  but  only 
in  order  to  exhort  them  to  keep  firmly  the  acknowledged  truth  of  the  gospel."  It  is 
obvious  that  non-fellowship  with  antichristian  error  is  just  as  essential  to  fellow- 
ship with  God  as  non-fellowship  with  a  sinful  world.  But  are  we  to  understand  by 
the  6  dyrixpHTTos  of  St.  John  the  same  as  the  6  &t>6po)Tros  TTJS  a/j,aprlas,  6  foofnos,  6  vibs 
rrjs  cbrwAeias  of  St.  Paul  (2  Thess.  ii.  3,  8)  ?  "  St.  John  speaks  in  a  more  general 
way,"  says  Karl  Braune,  "  and  uses  lass  definite  terms  than  St.  Paul,  who  gives 
more  distinct  prominence  to  the  person  and  approach  of  the  dreaded  and  dreadful 
One."  They  had  "heard  that  Antichrist  shall  come,"  and  in  confirmation  of  the 
truth  of  this  prophecy  he  points  them  to  the  fact  that  there  were  already  many  anti- 
christs. The  existence  of  these  many  antichrists  warranted  the  expectation  that 
what  was  exhibited  in  them,  only  in  an  isolated,  undeveloped,  and  feeble  form,  would 
yet  be  gathered  together  and  concentrated  in  an  individual  person  and  in  a  powerful 
form.  (See  Braune.)  Already  had  enemies  begun  to  spring  from  the  bosom  of  Christ- 
ianity itself,  forerunners  of  the  ANTICHRIST.  The  great  apostasy  might  be  distant ; 
but  there  had  been  apostasies  in  their  day  and  among  themselves.  As  before  the 
time  of  Christ  there  had  been  attempts  to  blend  the  Jewish  religion  with  heathen 
philosophy,  so  in  the  time  of  John  there  were  attempts  to  combine  this  paganized 
Judaism  with  Christian  doctrine,  resulting  in  a  mere  caricature  of  the  doctrine  con- 
cerning the  person  and  work  of  Christ.  The  great  central  mystery  of  the  gospel, 
the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God,  was  denied.  This  is  just  the  mark  which  St. 
John  gives  (ver.  22)  of  the  antichrists  which  existed  in  his  day. 

2  Only  those  whose  communion  was  merely  visible  and  apparent  forsake  it.  The 
purest  churches  under  heaven,  formed  as  they  are  in  the  world,  gathered  from 
among  imperfect  men,  who  are  welcomed  on  the  exhibition  of  the  merest  germ  of 
faith,  in  all  ages  have  embraced  some  false  members.  The  "  no  doubt  "  supplied 
by  the  A.  V.  is  unnecessary,  and  tend,s  to  weaken  the  sense. 

8  Unction,  x/>t'<r/ia,  i.e.  chrism.  This  anointing  from  the  Holy  One  refers  to  the 
renewing  and  sanctifying  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  indwelling  of  the  Spirit. 
It  is  this  preserves  all  true  believers  from  fundamental  error  (St.  John  vii.  17). 
Their  own  reins  instruct  them  (Psalm  xvi.  7). 

4  To  those  who  knew  the  truth,  TTJV  a\-r}deiav,  by  an  experimental  acquaintance  with 
the  power  of  the  gospel,  there  was  no  need  of  a  prolix  defence,  polemically,  of  its 
very  central  doctrine. 


398  THE    LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF   ST.  JOHN. 

a  liar  but  lie  that  denieth l  tliat  Jesus  is  the  Christ  ?   He  is  anti- 

23  christ,  that  denieth  the  Father  and  the  Son.     Whosoever  de- 
nieth the  Son,  the  same  hath  not  the  Father  :   [but]    he  that 

24  acJmowledgeth  3  the  Son  hath  the  Father  also.      Let  that  there- 
fore abide  in  you,  which  ye  have  heard  from  the  beginning.3 
If  that  which  ye  have  heard  from  the  beginning  shall  remain  in 

25  you,  ye  also  shall  continue  in  the  Son,  and  in  the  Father.    And 
this  is  the  promise  that  He  hath  promised  us,  even  eternal  life. 

26  These  things  have  I  written  unto  you  concerning  them  that 

27  seduce  you.     But  the  anointing 4  which  ye  have  received  of 
Him  abideth  in  you,  and  ye  need  not  that  any  man  teach  you : 
but  as  the  same  anointing  teacheth  you  of  all  things,  and  is 
truth,  and  is  no  lie,  and  even  as  it  hath  taught  you,  ye  shall 

28  abide  in  Him.     And  now,  little  children,  abide  in  Him ;  that, 
when  He  shall  appear,  we  may  have  confidence,5  and  not  be 

29  ashamed  before  Him  at  His  coming.     If  ye  know  that  He  is 
righteous,  ye  know  that  every  one  that  doeth  righteousness  is 
born  of  Him. 

7.  The  relation  of  fellowship  td  sonship  and  future  glory. 
III.]  [Ver.  1,  2. 

1      Behold,6  what  manner  of  love  the  Father  hath  bestowed  upon 
us,  that  we  should  be  called  the  sons 7  of  God :  therefore  the 

1  The  heretics  to  whom  St.  John  refers  denied  that  Jesus  was  the  Christ,  by 
denying  that  there  was  any  real  union  between  Him  and  Christ.    Sinners  have  no 
other  revealed  knowledge  of  God,  i.e.  they  have  no  knowledge  of  Him  whatever  as  a 
Father,  but  through  the  manifestation  of  His  Son  in  the  flesh. 

2  The  italicised  clause  in  the  Greek,  6  opoXoyuv  rbv  vibv,  /c.r.X.,  not  found  in  the 
common  text,  is  found  in  the  Sinaitic  and  ABC,  and  is  retained  by  Bengel,  Gries- 
bach,  Knapp,  Tittmann,  Lachmann,  Tischendorf,  Wordsworth,  Lillie,  and  has  every 
evidence  of  genuineness. 

3  That  which  they  had  heard  from  the  first  announcement  of  the  gospel  was  that 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  the  Christ,  the  incarnate  Son  of  God.  To  this  truth  they  were 
exhorted  to  cleave,  if  they  would  continue  in  communion  with  the  Son,  and  through 
Him  with  the  Father. 

4  The  apostle  recurs  again  to  the  spiritual  anointing  Christians  have,  and  their 
security  therefrom  against  corrupting  errors.     In  their  conversion  and  sanctification 
the  Holy  Spirit  writes  on  their  hearts  the  essential  truth.     This  Divine  unction,  this 
chrism  of  the  heart,  teaches  them  and  secures  them. 

5  "  Confidence,"  irappr)<rLa,  is  the  apostle's  word.       Christ  will  strengthen  the 
hearts  of  His  servants  in  that  great  day,  and  be  glorified  in  them. 

6  Even  the  apostle  seems  to  fail  of  expression  here  ;  just  as  before  in  his  Gospel, 
when  he  could  say  no  more  than  that  "  God  so  loved  the  world,"  all  he  seems  to 
attempt  is  little  more  than  to  throw  in  a  note  of  admiration. 

7  T£Kva  GeoO,  "  children  of  God,"  would  be  better  than  "  the  sons  of  God."   To  adopt 


i.  JOHN  in.  399 

world  knowefcli  us  not,  because  it  knew  Him  not.  Beloved,  now 
are  we  the  sons  *  of  God,  and  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we 
shall 2  be :  but  we  know  that,  when  He  shall  appear,  we  shall 
be  like  Him  ;  for  we  shall  see  Him  as  He  is. 


II.  Fruit  of  fellowship,  Holiness. — Chapter  III.  3-24. 

1.  Binding  nature  of  holiness. 

•    [Ver.  3-9. 

And  every  man  that  hath  this  hope  in  Him  purifieth  3  him- 

4   self,  even  as  He  4  is  pure.     Whosoever  committeth  sin  trans- 

gresseth  also  the  law  :  for  sin  is  the  transgression  5  of  the  law. 

a  person,  according  to  Eoman  law,  was  to  take  him  in  the  place  and  give  him  a 
right  to  all  the  privileges  of  a  son.  It  was  made  a  matter  of  public  enactment ;  the 
reasons  being  formally  drawn  up,  a  bill  was  passed  to  make  it  valid.  The  parties  ap- 
peared before  a  magistrate  and  entered  into  solemn  compact,  the  son  assuming  the 
name  of  his  adopted  father,  and  thenceforward  becoming  an  heir  to  a  share  of  his 
inheritance.  Those  who  have  fellowship  with  God  are  brought  as  it  were  into  His 
family,  and  into  the  closest  relations. 

1  Children  of  God. 

2  We  reach,  in  this  conclusion  of  the  first  part  of  this  Epistle,  that  which  may  be 
regarded  as  its  culminating  point :    fellowship  involves  sonship  ;    sonship,  heirship 
to  heavenly  blessedness.     The  future  blessedness,  to  which  the  sonship  entitles,  is 
thus  presented  by  the  apostle  :  (1)  The  impossibility  of  our  having  a  complete  con- 
ception or  knowledge  of  it  in  this  world  ;  (2)  Eesemblance  to  Christ  in  heaven  is, 
however,  a  matter  of  knowledge  ;  as  is  also  (3)  Our  vision  of  Him  as  He  is  in  the 
glory  of  His  exaltation.    It  does  not  yet  appear  from  anything  we  have  discovered  of 
the  grace  and  goodness  of  God,  from  experience  or  the  word  of  God,  what  we  shall 
be.     But  we  know  that  when  He  shall  appear  we  shall  see  Him,  and  be  like  Hun 
in  spiritual  glory,  and  in  the  glorified  bodies  with  which  we  shall  be  raised  up  from 
the  grave. 

3  One  of  the  best  tests  of  our  hope  of  seeing  and  being  like  the  Saviour  in 
heaven,  is  its  purifying  tendency,  or  its  tendency  to  promote  the  cultivation  of 
holiness. 

4  The  expression,  "  in  Him,"  ITT  curry,  does  not  relate  to  the  sinner  himself,  or  to 
hope  as  cherished  within  him,  but  to  God  or  Christ,  every  man  that  has  this  hope 
in  and  upon  Christ  (see  Eom.  xv.  12,  eir  avr<^  tdv-rj  £\iriov<riv).     Purity  or  holiness 
is  an  attribute  belonging  to  Christ,  without  any  stain  or  spot.     The  hope  of  being 
with  and  like  Christ  for  ever  must  attest  its  genuineness  hi  leading  us  to  strive 
to  be  like  Him  now. 

6  The  apostle  proceeds  to  show  the  necessity  or  obligation  of  holiness  as  con- 
nected with  a  good  Christian  hope.  The  first  point  he  makes  is,  that  if  we  would 
cherish  a  well  founded  hope  we  must  cultivate  holiness  on  earth,  because  sin, 
which  is  opposed  to  holiness,  is,  by  its  intrinsic  nature,  a  subversion  of  that  law 
which  is  a  transcript  of  the  Divine  purity.  The  law  as  the  rule  of  duty  marks  out 
the  path  hi  which  the  forgiven  sinner  walks,  as  he  walks  with  God  the  path  to 
heaven.  Sin  is  i]  avo/ji.ta,  lawlessness.  That  law  does  not  tolerate  sin  in  the  least 


400  THE   LIFE   AND   WRITINGS   OF    ST.  JOHN. 

5  And  ye  know  that  He  was  manifested  to  take  l  away  our  sins  ; 

6  and  in  Him  is  no  sin.     Whosoever  abideth  2  in  Him  sinneth 
not :  whosoever  sinneth  hath  not  seen  Him,   neither  known 

7  him.     Little  children,  let  no  man  deceive  you  :  he  that  doeth 

8  righteousness  is  righteous,  even  as  He  is  righteous.     He  that 
committeth  sin  is  of  the  devil ;  for  the  devil  sinneth  from  the 
beginning.     For  this  purpose  the  Son  of  God  was  manifested, 

9  that  He  might  destroy  the  works  of  the  devil.     Whosoever  is 
born  of  God  doth  not  commit 3  sin ;  for  his  seed  4  remaineth  in 
him  :  and  he  cannot  sin,  because  he  is  born  of  God. 

2.  Brotherly  love  one  of  the  fruits  of  holiness. 

[Ver.  10-18. 

10      In  this  the  children  of  God  are  manifest,  and  the  children  of 
the  devil:  whosoever  doeth  not  righteousness  is  not  of  God, 

degree.  The  doctrine  of  Christian  liberty  does  not  deny  nor  disown  the  positive 
character  of  the  moral  law  as  a  Divine  prohibition.  Salvation  by  grace  is  salvation 
from  the  power  as  well  as  the  guilt  of  sin. 

1  The  second  point  he  makes  is,  that  the  Christian  will  cultivate  holiness  because 
his  love  for  Christ  will  prompt  him  to  seek  to  concur  with  Christ  in  the  great  object 
of  His  mission,  which  was  to  put  away  sin.     The  expression  here,  aipeiv  ras  d/tap- 
r£as,  to  take  away  sins,  is  of  more  extensive  import  than  in  the  words,  "  Behold 
the  Lamb  of  God,  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world"  (St.  John  i.  29),  where 
it  means  to  bear  sin,  to  undergo  the  punishment  it  deserves,  as  a  sufficient  sacrifice 
and  satisfaction,  that  a  way  may  be  opened  for  the  exercise  of  pardon.    Here  it 
includes  not  only  the  idea  of  expiation,  but  the  application  of  Christ's  work  of  re- 
demption ;  it  refers  to  the  removal  of  sin  through  the  act  of  pardon,  and  the  work 
of  sanctification.    Every  sin  a  believer  commits  is  in  opposition  to  the  great  end  of 
Christ's  redemption. 

2  The  third  point  is,  that  by  studying  to  avoid  sin  is  the  only  way  Christians  can 
have  any  evidence  of  their  real  union  with  Christ.     The  meaning  of  the  apostle,  by 
"  sinneth  not,"  is  not  that  union  and  communion  with  Christ  presupposes  entire 
freedom  from  sins  of  frailty,  any  more  than  it  is  all  the  apostle  means  that  true 
Christians  will  be  careful  to  avoid  only  gross  sins.     The  difficulty  of  understanding 
this,  that  all  who  abide  in  Christ  sin  not,  arises  from  failing  to  notice  the  large  im- 
port of  the  expression,  h  ai/r$  ptvwv,  abideth  in  Him,  and  the  manner  in  which  it 
necessarily  qualifies  the  meaning  of    the    statement.      After  this  perfect  union 
or  abiding  Christians  will  constantly  strive.     Habitual  allowance  in  known  sin  is 
proof  that  this  union  with  Christ  has  never  been  established. 

3  The  cultivation  of  holiness  is  essential  to  the  evidence  that  we  have  been 
truly  born  of  God.     To  be  born  of  God  is  to  have  the  spirit  of  the  mind  renewed, 
the  interior  principle  of  life  and  action,  which  lies  back  of  all  that  is  outward  and 
phenomenal.     It  is  to  have  the  old  law  of  the  mind  superseded.     It  is  not  an  im- 
provement or  modification  in  the  old  nature,  but  an  entirely  new  nature.    Sin  is 
not  in  accordance  with  this  new  nature,  nor  can  it  be  supposed  ever  to  flow  from 
the  new  nature. 

4  The  spiritual,  terminal  principle  of  holiness.      No  sin  can  arise  from  a  nature 
created  and  supported  like  this. 


I.    JOHN    III.  401 

H  neither  he  that  loveth1  not  his  brother.  For  this  is  the  mes- 
sage 2  that  ye  heard  from  the  beginning,  that  we  should  love 

L2  one  another.  Not  as  Cain,  who  was  of  that  wicked  one,  and 
slew  his  brother.  And  wherefore  slew  he  him  ?  Because  his 

13  own  works  were  evil,  and  his  brother's  righteous.     Marvel  not, 

14  my  brethren,  if  the  world  hate  you.     We  know  3  that  we  have 
passed  from  death  unto  life,  because  we  love  the  brethren.     He 

15  that    loveth  not   his   brother  abideth  in   death.       Whosoever 
hateth    his  brother   is  a  murderer :    and    ye    know   that    no 

16  murderer  hath  eternal  life  abiding  in  him.     Hereby  perceive 
we  the  love  of  God,  because  He  4  laid  down  His  life  for  us :  and 

17  we  ought  to  lay  down  our  lives  for  the  brethren.     But  whoso  5 
hath  this  world's  good,  and  seeth  his  brother  have  need,  and 
shutteth  up  his  bowels  of  compassion  from  him,  how  dwelleth 

18  the  love  of  God  in  him  ?     My  little  children,  let  us  not  love  in 
word,  neither  in  tongue ;  but  in  deed  and  in  truth. 

3.  Oilier  fruits  of  holiness. 

[Yer.  19-24. 

19  And  hereby 6  we  know  that  we  are  of  the  truth,  and  shall 

20  assure  our  hearts  before  Him.     For  if  our  heart  7  condemn  us, 

1  Brotherly  love  is  a  comprehensive  expression  for  that  kindness  and  charity 
without  which  there  can  be  no  "  righteousness." 

2  Commandment  in  the  margin,  heard  from  the  beginning  (St.  John  xiii.  34,  35). 
The  apostle  here  returns  to  this  subject  of  brotherly  love  to  show  how  this  love 
enters  necessarily  into  the  evidence  of  true  piety.     He  finds  a  striking  illustration 
of  the  subject   in  the  history  of  Cain  and  Abel.     He  attributes  Cain's  fratricide  to 
the  evil  worker,  who  was  a  murderer  from  the  beginning  (St.  John  viii.  44). 

3  Love  of  the  brethren  is  the  most  unequivocal  proof  that  we  have  passed  from 
death  unto  life  ;  it  is  of  a  nature  which  admits  of  no  mistake  as  to  its  reality.    And 
hatred  of  a  brother  is  just  as  clear  and  positive  a  proof  of  abiding  in  death. 

4  The  apostle  sets  before  us  the  highest  example  and  expression  of  love,  that  he 
may  show  that  the  love  he  is  enforcing  is  not  a  mere  profession,  or  thing  of  words, 
but  of  deeds.     The  words,  of  God,  are  omitted  in  most  MSS.,  and  are  printed  in 
italics  in  our  version,  but  the  "  He  "  in  "  He  laid  down  His  life  for  us  "  beyond  all 
question  refers  to  Christ.     From  His  example  we  learn  to  know  and  recognise  what 
is  true  and  perfect  love. 

5  In  times  of  persecution,  Christians  are  called  often  to  this  test  of  the  strength 
and  sincerity  of  their  love,  the  exposure  of  their  lives  for  their  brethren  ;  and  at  all 
times  they  are  called  to  be  compassionate,  liberal,  and  communicative  to  the  ne- 
cessities of  brethren.    Where  there  is  none  of  this  love,  there  is  none  to  God. 
This  must  be  found,  by  an  absolute  necessity,  among  the  fruits  of  love  to  God. 
There  must  be  something  more  than  words — a  real,  practical  benevolence. 

6  It  is  by  understanding  what  are  the  evidences  of  saving  piety,  and  being  able  to 
discover  these  in  ourselves,  that  we  may  know  we  have  passed  from  death  unto  life, 
and  have  assurance  of  heart  before  God. 

7  The  interpretation  here  has  been  felt  to  be  somewhat  difficult,  because  the 

2  D 


402  THE    LIFE    AND    WETTINGS    OP    ST.  JOHN. 

God    is    greater  than    our    heart,  and    knoweth    all    things. 

21  Beloved,  if  our  heart  condemn  us  not,  then  have  we  confidence 

22  toward  God.     And  whatsoever  we  ask,  we  receive 1  of  Him, 
because  we  keep  His  commandments,  and  do  those  things  that 

23  are  pleasing  in  His  sight.     And  this  is  His  commandment,2 
That  we  should  believe  on  the  name  of  His  Son  Jesus  Christ, 

24  and  love  one  another,  as  He  gave  us  commandment.     And  he 
that  keepeth  His  commandments  dwelleth  in  Him,  and  He  in 
him.     And  hereby  we  know  that  He  abideth  in  us,  by  the 
Spirit 3  which  He  hath  given  us. 

III.  Laiv  of  fellowship,  Truth. —Chapter  IV.  1-6. 
IV.]  [Ver.  1-6. 

1       Beloved,  believe  not  every  spirit,  but  try  the  spirits  whether 
they  are  of  God  :  because  many  false*  prophets  are  gone  out 

words  as  they  stand  appear  to  be  better  suited  to  alarm  the  distrustful  believer  than 
to  tranquillize  and  console  an  awakened  conscience.  But  the  clear  and  unmistak- 
able meaning  is,  "  We  know,  if  our  heart  condemn  us,  that  God  is  greater  than  our 
heart,  and  knoweth  all  things.  Beloved,  if  our  hearts  do  not  condemn  us,  we  have 
confidence  towards  God."  Heart  here,  i)  Kapdla,  is  that  self  reflecting,  judicial 
power,  whereby  we  take  cognisance  of  our  dispositions  and  actions,  and  pass  judg- 
ment on  them  as  right  or  wrong ;  it  is  the  same  therefore  as  conscience,  or  the 
power  of  moral  self  consciousness.  If  not  self  condemned,  by  a  conscience  en- 
lightened and  guided  by  the  word  of  God,  we  may  have  confidence  that  we  are  not 
condemned  by  God.  This  then  is  another  evidence  by  which  Christians  may  have 
their  hearts  assured  before  God  ;  to  wit,  the  testimony  of  a  good  conscience,  a  con- 
science enlightened  as  to  truth  and  duty  by  the  word  and  Spirit  of  God. 

1  Another  evidence  is  that  our  prayers  are  heard  and  answered.     It  is  one  of  the 
most  oft  repeated  promises  that  the  prayers  of  good  men  shall  be  answered ;  and  it 
is  everywhere  a  matter  of  record,  in  the  word  of   God,  that  their  prayers  are 
answered.     The  answer  of  prayer  is  the  favour  God  shows  to  those  who  humble 
themselves  before  Him,  and  please  and  honour  Him  by  cherishing  the  spirit  of 
obedience  in  their  hearts. 

2  We  are  told  in  what  the  commandments  we  are  to  keep  summarily  consist ;  we 
have  a  compendium  of  the  life  of  faith  and  love. 

3  The  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  another  of  the  fruits  of  that  holiness  which 
is  itself  a  fruit  of  fellowship  with  God ;  or  it  is  another  evidence  that  we  are  the 
children  of  God.     God's  abiding  in  man  is  effected  through  the  communion  or 
presence  in  his  heart  of  the  Holy  Spirit.     When  God  dwells  in  a  man  it  is  proof 
that  he  is  a  Christian.     And  it  is  proof  that  God  dwells  in  a  man  when  he  keeps 
the  commandments,  which  are  summarily  comprehended  in  faith  in  Jesus  and  in 
brotherly  love. 

4  The  attempt  of  some  to  undermine  the  gospel,  by  denying  that  there  was  any- 
thing real  in  the  incarnation  of  Christ,  is  turned  to  good  account  in  this  Epistle. 
The  apostle  is  here  drawn  back  again  to  the  occasion  of  its  being  written ;  and 
proceeds  to  furnish  a  test  by  which  false  teachers  may  be  proved  to  be  false.     The 
spirits  that  are  to  be  tried  are  the  spirits  of  men,    of  these   false  teachers    or 


I.    JOHN    IV.  40o 

2  into   the  world.     Hereby  know  ye  the  Spirit  of  God  :  Every  l 
spirit  that  confesseth  that  Jesus  Christ  is  come  in  the  flesh  is 

3  of  God  :  and  every  spirit 2  that  confesseth  not  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  come  in3  the  flesh  is  not  of  God:  and  this  is  that  spirit  of 
antichrist,  whereof  ye  have  heard  that  it  should  come;   and 

4  even  now  already  is  it  in  the  world.     Ye  *  are  of  God,  little 
children,  and  have  overcome  them :  because  greater  is  He  that 

5  is  in  you,  than  he  that  is  in  the  world.     They  are  of  the  world  : 
therefore  speak  they  of  the  world,  and  the  world  heareth  them. 

6  We  5  are  of  God :  he  that  knoweth  God  heareth  us  ;  he  that  is 
not  of  God  heareth  not  tis.     Hereby  know  we  the  spirit  of 
truth,  and  the  spirit  of  error. 

IV.  The  life  of  fellowship,  Lot;e.~Chapter  IV.  7-21. 

[  Ver.  7-21. 
Beloved,  let  us  love  one  another:  for  love6  is  of  God;  and 

8  every  one  that  loveth  is  born  of  God,  and  knoweth  God.    He  that 

9  loveth  not,  knoweth  not  God ;  for   God  is  love.     In  this  was 
manifested  the  love  of  God  toward  us,  because  that  God  sent 7 

prophets,  \f/ev5oTrpo(f>TJTa.i,  pseudo-prophets.  It  is  made  the  duty  of  private  Christians 
to  try  every  man  who  claims  to  be  of  God,  even  the  pontifex  maximus  himself, 
by  the  test  God  has  given,  His  truth. 

1  Then  follows  the  test. 

2  We  have  the  same  answer  to  the  question,  Who  is  antichrist  ?  given  before 
(chap.  ii.  22).     Not  to  confess,  or  to  deny,  that  Jesus  Christ  has  come  in  the  flesh 
is  that  spirit  of  antichrist.     Any  denial  which  tends  to  impair  His  full  and  sufficient 
work  of  atonement,  or  which  makes  Him  essentially  different  in  His  person,  as  it 
respects  either  His  human  or  Divine  nature,  from  what  is  stated  by  inspired  apostles, 
is  fatal  to  any  man's  claim  of  being  a  teacher  from  God,  or  of  knowing  Him  by  faith 
and  regeneration. 

3  'Ej/  vapid  denotes  the  mode  of  existence  in  which  Christ  appeared,  and  must 
not  be  taken  as  equivalent  to  et's  vapKa..    It  is  as  essential  to  a  true  confession  to 
believe  and  maintain  the  humanity  as  the  Divinity  of  Christ. 

4  'T^ueFs  e/c  rou  9eoC,  ye  are  begotten  or  born  of  God  (chap.  ii.  29). 

5  'HjueZj  e/c  TOV  0eoO,   i.e.,  we,   the   apostles  and  divinely  inspired  teachers  of 
the  church,  as  opposed  to  the  aurol  of  verse  5,  the  \{/evSoTrpo(j>T]Tai,  are  in  like  manner 
born  of  God  and  commissioned  by  Him. 

6  Fellowship  with  God  and  with  Christians  finds  its  very  life  in  love.     This  love 
is  enforced  in  a  series  of  most  weighty  arguments.     The  first  is  that  love  is  of  God, 
born  in  the  heart  of  all  who  are  born  of  God.     The  word  LOVE  better  describes  God 
than  any  other  known  even  to  inspired  terminology.    As  His  excellence  consists  in 
love,  it  is  the  best  thing  in  the  universe,  most  worthy  to  be  sought  and  cultivated  ; 
and  there  can  be  no  resemblance  to  Him,  no  communion  with  Him,  no  fitness  to 
dwell  in  His  presence,  without  love. 

'  Again,  the  exhibition  of  the  love  that  belongs  to  the  very  nature  of  God,  in 
sending  His  Son  to  atone  for  the  sins  of  the  world,  is  one  of  the  grande&t  arguments 


404  THE    LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

His    only  begotten    Son   into  the  world,  that  we   might  live 

10  through  Him.     Herein1  is  love,   not  that  we  loved  God,  but 
that  He  loved  us,  and  sent  His  Son  to  be  the  propitiation  2  for 

11  our  sins.    Beloved,  if  God  so  loved  us,  we 3  ought  also  to  love  one 

12  another.     No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time.     If  we  love  one 
another,  God  dwelleth  4  in  us,  and  His  love  is  perfected  in  us. 

13  Hereby  know  we  that  we  dwell  in  Him,  and  He  in  us,  because 

14  He  hath  given  us  of  His  Spirit.     And  we  have  seen  and  do 
testify  that  the  Father  sent  the  Son  to   be  the  Saviour  of  the 

15  world.     Whosoever  shall  confess  that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God, 

16  God  dwelleth  in  him,  and  he  in  God.     And  we  have  known  and 
believed  the  love  that  God  hath  to  us.     God  is  love;  and  he 
that   dwelleth   in   love 5    dwelleth  in    God,  and  God  in  him. 

17  Herein  is  our  love  made  perfect,  that  we  may  have  boldness  in 
the  day  of  judgment :    because  as  He  is,  so  are  we   in   this 

18  world.     There  is  no  fear 6   in  love ;    but  perfect  love  caste th 
out  fear  :    because  fear  hath  torment.     He  that  feareth  is  not 

19  made  perfect  in  love.     We  love  Him,  because  He  first  loved 

20  us.     If  a  man  say,  I  love  God,  and  hateth  his  brother,  he  is 
a  liar :  for  he  that  loveth  not  his  brother  whom  he  hath  seen, 


for  love.   What  belongs  so  essentially  to  His  nature  is  so  acted  out,  and  that  towards 
man  himself,  as  to  constitute  the  strongest  of  all  imaginable  appeals. 

1  It  is  a  manifestation  of  love  which  eclipses  all  others.     Here  all  its  scattered 
rays  converge  into  a  focus  of  such  surpassing  brightness  as  altogether  eclipses  every 
other  exhibition.     Our  want  of  love  to  God  is  specified  as  being  no  bar  to  this  dis- 
play of  His  love. 

2  Propitiation,  i\a<rfj-6s,  found  also  chap.  ii.  2.     He  was  sent  to  be  Himself  the 
propitiation,  to  be  the  priest  and  to  offer  the  sacrifice.     He  is  the  propitiation  in 
and  through  Himself  alone. 

3  The  stupendous  revelation  of  God's  love  to  man,  in  the  gift  of  His  Son,  was 
designed  to  win  back  to  Him  man's  alienated  heart,  and  to  beget  love  for  his  fellow 
men.     Love  to  God  is  accompanied  and  evidenced  by  love  for  others.     Not  to  love 
one  another  is  a  sign  that  we  are  strangers  to  the  power  of  His  love  in  Christ. 

4  Another  argument  for  love  is  here  stated.     It  is  proof  of  our  being  born  of  God, 
and  that  God  dwells  in  us.     There  is  both  the  love  of  complacency  and  the  love  of 
gratitude  in  the  love  which  is  an  evidence  of  change  of  heart.     "  We  love  Him,  be- 
cause He  first  loved  us." 

5  The  apostle  renews  the  subject  to  which  he  had  already  given  so  much  promi- 
nence.    It  is  the  love  of  God's  own  image,  seen  in  the  face  of  His  children,  which 
every  true  Christian  loves. 

6  The  confidence  inspired  by  love  is  the  remaining  argument  by  which  love  is 
recommended.     The  apostle  seems  to  regard  perfect  brotherly  love  as  perfect  love 
to  God  ;  and  he  says  that  this  love  excludes  terror,  and  begets  a  cheerful  confi- 
dence.    The  highest  perfection  of  our  love  shows  itself  in  this,  that  we  can  have 
confidence  in  the  day  of  judgment. 


I.    JOHN    V.  405 

21  how  can  lie  love  God  whom  he  hath  not  seen  ?  And  this 
commandment  have  we  from  Him,  That  he  who  loveth  God 
love  his  brother  also. 


V.  The  root  of  fellowship,  Faith.— Chapter  V.  1-21. 

1.  Efficacy  of  faith. 

V.]  [Ver.  1-5. 

Whosoever  belie veth1  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ  is  born  of  God  : 

and  every  one  that  loveth  Him  that  begat  loveth  Him  also  that 

2  is  begotten  of  Him.     By  this  we  know  that  we  love  the  child- 
ren3 of  God,  when  we  love  God  and  keep  His  commandments. 

3  For  this  is  the  love  of  God,  that  we  keep3  His  commandments: 

4  and  His  commandments  are  not  grievous.     For  whatsoever  is 
born  of  God  overcometh  the  world  :  and  this  is  the  victory 4 

5  that  overcometh  the  world,  even  our  faith.     Who  is  he  that 
overcometh  the  world,  but  he  that  belie  veth  that  Jesus  is  the 
Son  of  God  ? 

1  To  have  that  faith  wrought  in  the  heart  which  works  by  love  to  God,  a  love 
which  is  evidenced  by  fraternal  love  and  obedience  to  Christ,  is  to  be  born  of  God. 
Oharnock,  in  his  admirable  work  on  regeneration,  says  of  faith  that  it  is  "the 
prime  evangelical  grace,  upon  which  all  other  graces  grow,  and  consequently  all  the 
acts  of  the  new  creature  spring  from  this  principle  immediately ;  to  wit,  faith  in 
the  precept  as  a  rule ;  faith  in  the  promise  as  an  encouragement ;  faith  in  the 
Mediator  as  a  ground  of  acceptance."     Even  that  love  by  which  it  works,  and 
which  is  greater  than  itself,  springs  from  it  or  is  inseparably  connected  with  it. 
Faith  and  regeneration  are  so  far  coincident  that  they  are  represented  in  the  Scrip- 
tures as  having  the  same  author,  the  Holy  Spirit ;  the  same  instrumental  cause, 
the  word  or  truth  ;  and  the  same  results  or  fruits ;  namely,  exemption  from  con- 
demnation (Bom.  v.  1),  benevolent  deeds  (Jas.  ii.   14-16),  victory  over  the  world 
(1  John  iv.  4),  sonship  to  God  (John  i.  12),  everlasting  life  (John  iii.  36). 

2  Faith  makes  all  believers  our  brethren,  as  it  makes  them  by  means  of  the  like 
precious  faith  the  children  of  God.     "  Now  as,  in  the  family  life  of  man,  the  child 
naturally  loves  its  father,  and  the  love  to  common  parents  is  the  basis  of  the  love 
of  brothers  and  sisters,  even  so,  in  the  family  of  God's  children,  love  to  their  com- 
mon Father  in  heaven  is  the  common  and  primary  feeling  with  them  all,  from 
which  love  to  the  brethren  as  God's  children  must  necessarily  spring."  (Lucke.) 
"  He  that  loves  God  has  in  this  love  the  evidence  that  he  also  loves  his  brethren, 
because  brotherly  love  is  the  necessary  consequence  of  the  love  of  God ;  but  the 
converse  is  also  true,  as  stated  before  in  this  Epistle  (chap.  iv.  20,  21)."     (Luther.) 

3  Not  only  is  the  proof  that  we  love  God  found  in  our  keeping  the  command- 
ments, but  it  is  in  virtue  of  that  love  we  are  enabled  to  keep  them,  the  love  that  is 
the  fruit  of  faith.     His  commandments  are  not  grievous.     The  love  that  is  in 
them  makes  the  duties  pleasant ;  and  it  also  makes  them  acceptable. 

4  The  faith  that  works  by  love  overcomes  the  world.   No  other  power  has,  accord- 
ing to  the  testimony  of  history,  so  much  overcome  the  world  as  this  faith  in  Jesus 


406  THE    LIFE    AND    WRCTINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

2.  Three  witnesses  to  the  all-sufficient  foundation  of  faith. 

[Ver.  6-12. 

6  This   is   He1  that  came  by  water  and  blood,2  even  Jesus 
Christ;  not  by  water  only,  but  by  water  and  blood.     And  it  is 

7  the  Spirit3  that  beareth  witness,  because  the  Spirit  is  truth.    For 

as  the  Son  of  God.  The  apostle,  in  styling  Jesus  the  Son  of  God,  not  only  refers  to 
His  essential  glory  but  to  the  fact  that  believers  are  partakers  of  His  glory,  and,  as 
the  children  of  God,  conquer  with  Him  and  participate  in  His  victory. 

1  So  great  is  the  power  ascribed  to  faith  that  it  becomes  important  to  set  forth 
its  sure  foundation.     And   the  apostle  proceeds  to   cite  the  testimony  of  three 
witnesses  to  the  efficacy  of  faith  in  Jesus  Christ. 

2  The  expressions  "water"  and  "blood"  refer  to  certain  great  facts  in  the  history 
of  Christ,  having  particular  reference  to  His  atoning  work  ;  distinct  facts,  each  of 
which  contained  evidence  that  He  was  the  Saviour  of  the  world.     They  are  these  : 
His  baptism,  by  which  He  entered  on  His  office  and  consecrated  Himself  to  that 
death  which  His  baptism  symbolised ;  and  His  bloody  death  at  the  end,  by  which 
He  became  the  propitiation  for  the  sins  of  the  world.     These  two  facts  are  con- 
spicuously presented  by  St.  John  in  his  Gospel  (John  i.  32-34  ;  xix.  34)  as  a  reason 
for  faith  in  Jesus  as  the  Saviour.     He  had  been  typified  under  the  law  in  all  the 
purifications  made  by  water  and  blood,  which  purifications  were  typical  of  His  sacri- 
fice on  the  cross.     He  came  by  water  not  only  in  His  own  baptism,  but  in  the 
baptism  which  He  instituted.    He  came  by  blood,  in  His  bloody  sweat  in  the  garden 
and   His  bloody  death  on  the  cross,  and  in  the  sacrament   commemorative  of 
that  death.     He  came  by  both  water  and  blood,  at  once,  in  a  special  manner  on 
Calvary,  at  His  death.     John  perhaps  makes  special  reference  to  what  he  saw  with 
his  own  eyes,  and  which  he  thus  records  :  "  but  one  of  the  soldiers  with  a  spear 
pierced  His  side,  and  forthwith  came  there  out  blood  and  water  "  (John  xix.  34). 
"  He  came  by  blood  and  water,  He  proved  thereby  the  reality  of  His  humanity  and 
of  His  death ;  and  thus  He  has  given  a  practical  refutation,  which  the  writer  of  this 
Epistle  saw  with  his  own  eyes,  to  the  heretical  notions  of  those  in  the  apostolical 
age,  such  as  Simon  Magus  and  the  Docetae,  who  alleged  that  Christ  had  not  a  real 
human  body,  but  was  merely  a  spectral  phantasm,  crucified  in  show.    In  the  words 
'  not  by  water  only '  there  seems  also  to  be  a  reference  to  another  heresy  of  the 
apostolic  age,  that  of  Cerinthus,  who  said  that  Christ  came  in  the  water  of  baptism, 
and  descended  into  the  man  Jesus  ;  and  afterwards  departed  from  Him,  when  He 
shed  His  blood  on  the  cross  (or  immediately  upon  His  being  seized  by  His  crucifiers). 
In  opposition  to  this  notion  John  says,  '  This  is  He  that  came  by  water  and  blood ; 
not  by  water  only,  but  by  water  and  blood.' "  (Dr.  Wordsworth,  Commentary  in  loco.) 
The  water  may  be  taken  as  symbolical  of  the  perfection  of  character  and  untainted 
purity  of  the  Lord  Jesus  ;  the  blood  points  to  His  sufferings.     They  may  also  be 
taken  as  significant  of  ^the  two  great  benefits  which  believers  partake  of  through 
Him,  justification  and  sanctification. 

3  But  there  is  another  witness.     The  Spirit  here  is  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  operating 
in  Christ's  wonders  and  miracles  proceeding  from  Him,  and  poured  on  all  who  are 
born  of  God  (John  xv.  26,  27).    We  have  the  testimony  of  the  Spirit  to  Christ,  not 
only  at  His  baptism,  but  in  the  inspired  word,  and  in  the  great  company  of  believers, 
a  cloud  of  witnesses,  the  one  army  of  the  living  God,  who  have  left  the  monuments 
of  their  faith  along  the  track  of  more  than  eighteen  centuries.    This  testimony  loses 
nothing  because  it  stretches  back  through  so  many  hundred  years ;  but  has  been 
continually  augmented  and  confirmed.     The  church  in  all  ages,  the  living  body  of 


I.    JOHN    V.  407 

there  are  three  that  bear  record  [in  heaven,1  the  Father,  the 

8  Word,  and  the  Holy  Ghost :  and  these  three  are  one.     And 
there  are  three  that  bear  witness  in  earth,]  the  Spirit,  and  the 

9  water,  and  the  blood  :  and  these  three  agree  in  one.     If  we  re- 
ceive the  witness  of  men,  the  witness  of  God  is  greater :  for 
this  is  the  witness  of  God  which  He  hath  testified  of  His  Son. 

10  He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  of  God  hath  the  witness  in  him- 
self:2 he  that  believeth  not  God  hath  made  Him  a  liar;  be- 
cause he  believeth  not  the  record  that  God  gave  of  His  Son. 

11  And  this  is  the  record,3  that  God  hath  given  to  us  eternal  life, 

12  and  this  life  is  in  His  Son.     He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  life ; 
and  he  that  hath  not  the  Son  of  God  hath  not  life. 

3.  Faith  as  expressed  in  intercessory  prayer. 

[Yer.  13-17- 

13  These  things  have  I  written  unto  you  that  believe  on  the  name 
of  the  Son  of  God ;  that  ye  may  know  that  ye  have  eternal  life, 

14  and  that  ye4  may  believe  on  the  name  of  the  Son  of  God.    And 
this  is  the  confidence  that  we  have  in  Him,  that,  if  we  ask  any 

15  thing  according  to  His  will,5  He  heareth  us  :  and  if  we  know 

Christ,  give  an  extant,  visible  testimony  of  the  truth  of  Christ's  religion  and  of  His 
power  to  save.  The  ministry  and  testimony  of  the  Spirit,  in  one  respect,  has  the 
advantage  over  the  signs  and  wonders  and  preaching  of  Christ's  personal  ministry : 
it  continues  from  age  to  age. 

1  The  words  included  in  brackets  hi  the  text,  beginning  with  "  in  heaven  "  in  the 
seventh  verse,  and  ending  with  "  in  earth  "  in  the  eighth  verse,  are  not  found  in 
the  Sinaitic,  Vatican,  and  Alexandrine  Codices,  and  are  wanting  in  all  the  Greek 
codices,  and  in  almost  all  the  ancient  versions,  including  the  Latin,  down  to  the 
eighth  century.     They  are  found  in  a  copy  of  Cod.  173,  which  was  made  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  and  with  variations  in  other  codices.     The  external  historical  evi- 
dence against  the  genuineness  of  the  passage  is  so  conclusive  that  it  is  dismissed 
without  further  discussion.     See  the  arguments,  pro  and  con,  very  ably  stated  in 
Home's  Introduction,  Vol.  II.,  part  vi.,  chap.  4,  §  5. 

2  His  faith  in  a  crucified  Saviour  is  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  his  heart. 

3  AVTIJ  fffrlv  77  /Aaprvpla.     The  testimony  consists  in  this. 

4  It  appears  from  his  own  statement  that  the  apostle's  object  was  not  a  polemical 
one ;  it  was  not  primarily  to  refute  any  class  of  heretics,  although  he  refers  again 
and  again  to  the  false  teachers  who  were  corrupting  the  Church.     That  reading  of 
the  original  text  is  probably  genuine  which  makes  the  apostle  say  "  that  ye  may 
know  that  ye  have  eternal  life,  ye  that  believe  in  the  name  of  the  Son  of  God," 
giving  the  last  clause  as  rots  Triarftiovcriv  ets  rb  6vo/j.a  TOU  viov  TOU  9eoD.     This  makes 
the  great  purpose  of  the  Epistle  to  be  to  give  assurance  of  eternal  salvation  to 
believers.    The  remainder  of  it  is  largely  devoted  to  pointing  out  one  of  the  principal 
ways  in  which  this  confidence  or  assurance  manifests  itself ;  viz.,  in  prayer,  especially 
intercessory  prayer. 

5  It  becomes  a  matter  of  great  importance  how  we  may  know  what  to  pray  for 


408  THE    LIFE    AND    WEITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 

that  He  hear  us,  whatsoever  we  ask,  we  know1  that  we  have  the 

16  petitions  that  we  desired  of  Him.     If  any  man  see  his  brother 2 
sin  a  sin  which  is  not  unto  death,  he  shall  ask,  and  he  shall 
give  him  life  for  them  that  sin  not  unto  death.     There  is  a  sin3 

1 7  unto  death :  I  do  not  say  that  he  shall  pray  for  it.     All  un- 
righteousness is  sin  :  and  there  is  a  sin  not  unto  death. 

4.  Conclusion.     Final  appeal  to  Christians  to  maintain  fellowship 
through  Christ. 

[Yer.  18-21. 

18  We  know  that  whosoever  is  born  of  God  sinneth4  not;  but 
he  that  is  begotten  of  God  keepeth  himself,  and  that  wicked  one 

19  toucheth  him  not.     And  we  know  that  we  are  of  God,  and  the 

20  whole  world  lieth  in  wickedness.     And  we  know  that  the  Son 
of  God  is  come,  and  hath  given  us  an  understanding,  that  we 
may  know  Him  that  is  true ;  and  we  are  in 5  Him  that  is  true, 
even  in  His  Son  Jesus  Christ.     This  is  the  true  God,  and  eternal 

21  life.     Little  children,  keep  yourselves  from  idols.6    Amen. 

according  to  this  rule,  i.e.,  for  things  according  to  His  will.  The  will  of  God  (ac- 
cording to  good  old  Ezekiel  Hopkins)  may  be  best  known  by  the  promises  He  has 
given.  Spiritual  blessings  are  promised  absolutely,  and  all  are  commanded  to  seek 
after  them.  And  yet  for  degrees  of  grace  and  glory,  and  for  the  comforts  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  we  must  pray  conditionally,  if  the  Lord  will.  But  for  outward  worldly 
blessings  the  answer  is  conditioned  on  their  being  consistent  with  the  will  of  God 
and  our  good. 

1  It  is  this  assured  confidence  in  which  the  spirit  of  prayer  largely  consists. 

2  It  prompts  especially  to  intercessory  prayer.      The   apostle  recognises  two 
classes,  those  who  were  God's  true  children,  and  those  who  were  Christians  by  pro- 
fession or  in  name  only,  and  who  might  be  guilty  of  the  sin  unto  death.    For  those 
not  guilty  of  this  sin  we  are  to  pray  that  God  would  give  them  "  life,"  that  which  is 
wrought  in  the  soul  when  it  passes  from  death  unto  life. 

3  There  is  no  absolute  prohibition  of  prayer  in  this  latter  case.     But  what  are  we 
to  understand  by  the  "  sin  unto  death  "  ?    It  is  the  sin  of  which  spiritual  death  is 
the  inevitable  consequence,  the  sin  which,  according  to  the  laws  of  the  kingdom  of 
God,  or  that  fellowship  which  is  with  the  Father  and  with  His  Son  Jesus  Christ, 
destroys  the  capability  of  life  and  extinguishes  the  hope  of  salvation.    It  is  a  sin 
which  has  its  culmination  when  they  who  have  once  been  enlightened  by  the  truth 
of  God  return  to  idolatry  or  apostatize  from  Christianity.     As  "  the  confession  of 
Christ  with  the  mouth  and  in  the  heart  is  salvation  unto  life  (Eom.  x.  9),  so  the 
denial  of  Christ  with  the  mouth  and  in  the  heart  is  sin  unto  death."  (Alford.)    In- 
tercessory prayer  is  to  be  offered  in  behalf  of  all  who  have  not  put  themselves 
beyond  the  reach  of  mercy  by  denying  Christ,  or  rejecting  the  mercy  offered  only 
through  Him. 

4  See  note  on  chap.  iii.  9.     Or  the  meaning  of  the  words  may  be  that  every  one 
born  of  God  does  not  commit  the  sin  unto  death. 

5  Chap.  i.  3.     Being  in  Christ,  believers  are  in  communion  with  God,  in  the 
knowledge  of  whom  through  Jesus  Christ  consists  eternal  life. 

6  This  is  a  solemn  warning  that  beyond  the  sphere  of  communion  with  Christ 


II.    JOHN.  409 


THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  JOHN. 

SUBJECT  OF  THE  EPISTLE. — Brotherly  love,  with  a  warning  against 
the  doctrine  of  false  teachers  and  fellowship  with  them.  The  child- 
ren of  the  "  elect  lady  "  addressed  are  commended  for  walking  in 
the  truth ,  which  is  in  order  to  the  goodness  or  fellowship  enjoined. 


1.  To  whom  the  Epistle  is  addressed,  and  the  salutation. 

[Yer.  1-3. 

THE  elder l  unto  the  elect  lady  2  and  her  children,  whom  I 
love  in  the  truth  ;  and  not  I  only,  but  also  all  they  3  that  have 

2  known  the  truth:  for  the  truth's  sake,  which  dwelleth  4  in  us, 

3  and  shall  be  with  us  for  ever.     Grace 5  be  with  you,  mercy,  and 
peace,  from  God  the  Father,  and  from  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
the  Son  of  the  Father,  in  truth  and  love. 


there  is  only  death  ;  and  an  earnest  entreaty  to  beware  of  idols  and  of  communion 
with  them.  In  communities  that  had  been  converted  from  heathenism,  and  where 
idolatry  was  sustained  with  so  great  parade  and  at  such  an  enormous  expense  as  in 
cities  like  Ephesus,  and  in  which  persecution  often  raged,  there  was  no  little  danger 
of  a  temptation  to  return  to  literal  idolatry.  But  there  is  a  figurative  idolatry 
against  which  Christians  in  all  lands  and  ages  may  be  warned. 

1  Instead  of  calling  himself  6  ct7r6<rToXos,  he  assumes  the  title  of  an  ordinary 
minister  of  the  church,  6  irpea^repos.  That  he  describes  his  office,  not  his  age, 
is  sufficiently  evident;  for  if  it  had  been  his  age  the  term  would  have  been 


2  It  has  been  frequently  supposed  that  by  this  appellation  the  apostle  intended 
to  denote  the  Christian  church  as  a  whole,  or  some  particular  congregation.    But 
no  good  reason  can  be  conceived  why  the  apostle  should  have  resorted  to  a  style  so 
mystical  and  allegorical  ;  it  is  more  natural  to  suppose  it  was  addressed  to  an  indi- 
vidual.   It  then  becomes  a  question  whether  the  word  rendered  "  lady,"  Kvpla,  is 
not  rather  to  be  understood  as  the  name  of  the  person  addressed  (see  Liicke's, 
Braune's,  and  Wordsworth's  Commentaries).     CUKIA,  as  a  woman's  name,  was  not 
unusual  ;  there  were  two  female  martyrs  that  bore  it.    But  whether  Curia,  or 
Cyria,  is  a  proper  name  or  not,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  apostle  here  ad- 
dresses a  pious  woman,  a  mother  of  pious  children.     He  could  however,  as  he  was 
on  a  journey,  write  only  briefly. 

3  He  connects  with  himself  all  those  Christians  who,  in  the  place  where  he  was 
writing,  knew  Curia's  children,  and  loved  them  for  the  truth's  sake. 

4  It  is  interest  in  the  common  truth  and  the  common  salvation,  which  is  the 
foundation  of  Christian  communion  and  brotherly  love. 

5  The  usual  apostolic  salutation  or  greeting   (Eom.  i.  7,  1  Cor.  i.  3,  2  Cor.  i.  2, 
Gal.  i.  3,  Eph.  i.  2,  Phil.  i.  2,  1  Pet.  i.  2). 


410  THE    LIFE    AND    WRITINGS    OF    ST.  JOHN. 


2.  Incident  which  led  to  the  writing  of  the  Epistle,  and  apostolical 
exhortations. 

[Yer.  4-11. 

4  I  rejoiced  greatly  that  I  found1  of  thy  children2  walking  in 
truth,  as  we  have  received  a  commandment  from  the  Father. 

5  And  now  I  beseech  thee,  lady,  not  as  though  I  wrote  a  new 
commandment  unto  thee,  but  that  which  we  had  from   the 

6  beginning,  that  we  love  3  one  another.     And  this  is  love,  that 
we  walk  after  His  commandments.     This  is  the  commandment, 
That,  as  ye  have  heard  from  the  beginning,  ye  should  walk  in 

7  it.    For  many  deceivers  4  are  entered  into  the  world,  who  confess 
not  that  Jesus  Christ  is  come  in  the  flesh.     This  is  a  deceiver 

8  and  an  antichrist.     Look  to  yourselves,  that  we  lose  not  those 
things  which  we  have  wrought,  but  that  we   receive   a   full 

9  reward.    Whosoever  transgresseth,  and  abideth  not  in  the  doc- 
trine of  Christ,  hath  not  God.     He  that  abideth  in  the  doctrine 

10  of  Christ,  he  hath  both  the  Father  and  the  Son.     If  there  come 
any  unto  you,  and  bring  not  this  doctrine,  receive5  him  not 

11  into  your  house,  neither  bid  him  God  speed  :  for  he  that  bid- 
deth  him  God  speed  is  partaker  of  his  evil  deeds. 


3.   'Farewell  greetings. 

[Yer.  12,  13. 
12      Having  many  things  to  write  unto  you,  I  would  not  write 

1  We  have  here  the  pleasing  incident  which  led  the  apostle  to  address  this  letter 
to  the  "  elect"  Curia.     Probably  on  one  of  his  apostolical  visitations,  in  some  city 
remote  from  Ephesus,  he  had  met  with  her  children,  who  were  giving  the  most 
pleasing  evidence  of  devotion  to  Christ's  truth. 

2  The  expression  "  of  thy  children,"  IK  T&V  T£KVUV,  means  some  of  thy  children, 
or  those  of  thy  children  residing  here.     Their  religion  was  not  a  mere  profession, 
but  a  walk  according  to  the  commandment  received  from  the  Father. 

3  And  first  he  exhorts  her  to  love,  not  as  anything  new,  but  as  that  which  had 
been  heard  from  the  beginning  (1  John  ii.  7,  8  ;  John  xiii.  34,  xv.  12). 

4  He  warns  her  against  the  deceivers  who  denied  that  there  had  been  any  real 
manifestation  of  Christ  in  the  flesh,  and  maintained  that  it  was  only  an  apparent  or 
seeming  manifestation  :  the  Docetae.     It  was  soul-destroying  error  against  which  he 
warns  :  verses  8,  9.     See  1  John  ii.  18-22. 

5  He  warns  Curia  and  her  children  against  receiving  or  performing  any  act  which 
would  seem  to  express  fellowship  with  these  false  teachers,  or  which  might  be  inter- 
preted as  giving  them  encouragement.    The  hospitality  and  salutations,  which  John 
forbids,  in  the  apostolic  age  were  significant  signs  of  Christian  communion  and  con- 
fidence.   We  have  no  right  to  bid  God-  speed  to  errorists  and  deceivers. 


III.    JOHN.  411 


with  paper  *  and  ink  :  but  I  trust  to  come  unto  you,  and  speak 
13 face  to  face,  that  our  joy  may  be  full.     The  children2  of  thy 
elect  sister  greet  thee.     Amen. 


THE  THIED  EPISTLE  OF  JOHN. 

SUBJECT. — Three  portraits)  or  the  characters  of  Gains,  Diotrephes, 
and  Demetrius. 

1.  Character  of  Gains. 

[Ver.  1-8. 
THE  elder3  unto  the  well  beloved  Gaius,4  whom  I  love5  in  the 

2  truth.      Beloved,  I  wish  above  all  things   that   thou  mayest 

3  be  in  health,   even  as  thy  soul6  prospereth.     For  I  rejoiced 
greatly,  when  the  brethren 7  came  and  testified  of  the  truth 

4  that  is  in  thee,  even  as  thou  walkest  in  the  truth.     I  have  no 

5  greater  joy  than  to  hear  that  my  children  walk  in  truth.     Be- 
loved, thou  doest   faithfully 8  whatsoever  thou  doest    to   the 

6  brethren,  and  to  strangers ;  which  have  borne  witness  of  thy 
charity  9  before  the  church  :   whom  if  thou  bring  forward  on 

1  Aid,  x&PTOV  fed  /tAaros.      Paper  made  of  layers  of  the  Egyptian  papyrus ;  ink 
made  of  soot,  water,  and  gum. 

2  The  sister  of  Curia  may  have  been  dead,  but  her  children  send  greetings. 

3  The  apostle  again  assumes  the  title  belonging  to  all  ministers  of  Christ,  "  the 
elder." 

4  There  appears  to  have  been  a  Gaius  at  Derbe,  who  was  with  St.  Paul  at  Ephesus, 
and  was  one  of  his  travelling  companions ;  and  a  Gaius  of  Corinth,  who  was  St. 
Paul's  host  in  that  city,  and  whom  he  baptized  (Acts  xix.  29,  xx.  4 ;  Eom.  xvi.  23  ; 
1  Cor.  i.  14).     But  whether  the  person  here  addressed  was  one  of  these,  or  some 
other  converted  under  John's  ministry,  it  is  not  easy  to  determine.     Nor  are  we 
able  to  decide  that  he  was  a  presbyter,  or  that  he  held  any  other  ecclesiastical 
office. 

5  He  was  one  who  had  strongly  commended    himself  to   the  affection  of   the 
apostle. 

6  This  shows  the  very  high  estimation  in  which  the  apostle  held  his  character  as 
a  Christian.     He  makes  the  prosperity  of  his  soul  the  measure  of  all  the  other 
prosperity  he  could  desire  for  the  friend  he  loved  so  well ;  in  other  words,  he  makes 
his  spiritual  state  the  standard  by  which  he  would  have  his  well-being  in  all  other 
respects  graduated. 

7  Gaius  was  a  Christian  well  established  in  the  faith,  as  evidenced  by  his  walk, 
according  to  the  report  of  the  brethren.     He  walked  in  the  truth ;  he  was  a  living 
epistle. 

8  He  was  full  of  activity  and  zeal.     He  was  not  one  of  the  drowsy,  half-way  sort 
of  men  ;  but  did  faithfully  whatever  he  undertook  for  strangers  as  well  as  brethren. 

9  Such  was  his  charity  that  even  strangers  joined  in  bearing  witness  to  it  before 
the  church. 


412  THE    LIFE   AND    WRITINGS    OP    ST.  JOHN. 

7  their  journey  after  a  godly  sort,  thou  shalt  do  well :  because  that 

for  his  name's  sake  they  1  went  forth,  taking  nothing  of  the 

8  Gentiles.     We  therefore  ought  to  receive  such,  that  we  might 
be  fellow  helpers  2  to  the  truth. 


2.   Second  portrait :  character  of  Diotrephes. 

[Ver.  9-11. 
9      I  wrote  unto  the  church :  but  Diotrephes, 3  who  loveth  to  have 

10  the  preeminence  among  them,  receiveth  4  us  not.     Wherefore, 
if  I  come,  I  will  remember  his  deeds  which  he  doeth,  prating  5 
against  us  with  malicious  words  :  and  not  content  therewith, 
neither  doth  he  himself  receive 6  the  brethren,  and  f orbiddeth 

11  them  that  would,  and  casteth7  them  out  of  the  church.     Be- 
loved, follow  not  that  which  is  evil, 8  but  that  which  is  good. 
He  that  doeth  good  is  of  God :  but  he  that  doeth  evil  hath  not 
seen  God. 

3.  Third  portrait :  ort  the  character  of  Demetrius. 

[Ver.  12. 

12  Demetrius9   hath   good   report    of    all10  men,    and   of    the 

1  These  were  doubtless  evangelists  or  missionaries  to  the  heathen. 

2  By  receiving  such  and  helping  them  forward  on  their  journey,  Gaius  became  a 
fellow  helper  in  their  work.     Not  called  to  go  in  person  to  the  heathen,  he  still  had 
a  distinct  agency  in  helping  the  spread  of  the  truth. 

3  Diotrephes  was   probably  a  presbyter,  or  office  bearer,  in  the  church  to  which 
Gaius  belonged.     This  ambitious  and  influential  man  used  his  office  to  lord  it  over 
God's  heritage.     He  is  described  as  ^iXoTjywretfwj',  loving  to  be  first. 

4  The  apostle  had  addressed  an  Epistle  to  the  church,  but  Diotrephes  had  refused 
to  recognise  his  authority.     He  did  not  hesitate  to  put  himself  into  open  collision 
with  the  venerable  apostolic  head  of  the  church. 

5  This  sets  the  man  distinctly  before  us,  and  shows  us  what  kind  of  a  man  he 
was ;  a  garrulous,  talkative,  conceited  fellow. 

6  Not  content  with  slandering  the  apostle,  he  not  only  himself  refused  reception 
to  the  brethren  who  went  forth  taking  nothing  of  the  brethren,  but  hindered  others. 

7  This  seems  to  decide  the  question  that  he  was  clothed  with  authority  or  the 
influence  of  a  high  office  in  the  church. 

8  In  this  the  apostle  seems  more  than  to  express  a  doubt  that  Diotrephes  could 
have  been  a  really  good  man.     If  he  had  ever  possessed  grace,  his  love  of  power 
and  dictation  had  for  the  time  at  least  overmastered  it. 

9  He  was  probably  the  bearer  of  this  Epistle  to  Gaius,  and  may  have  been  one  of 
those  who  went  forth  on  then1  self  denying  work  to  the  Gentiles. 

10  A.  threefold  testimony  is  borne  to  the  excellence  of  this  man..    First,  he  had  a 
good  report  of  all  men,  that  good  name  which  is  of  great  price,  being  consistent 
with  a  faithful  profession  of  godliness. 


III.    JOHN.  413 

truth1  itself:  yea,  and  we2   also  bear  record;    and  ye  know 
that  our  record  is  true. 


4.  Final  greetings. 

[Ver.  13, 14. 

13  I  had  many  things  to  write,  but  I    will  not  with  ink   and 

14  pen  3  write  unto  thee  :    but  I  trust  I   shall  shortly  see  4  thee, 
and  we  shall  speak  face  to  face.      Peace  5  be  to  thee.      Our 
friends  salute  thee.     Greet  the  friends  6  by  name. 

1  Secondly,  the  Divine  truth  so  dwelt  in  him  as  to  render  him  a  sort  of  image  of 
the  truth,  in  his  conversation  and  character.     Or  the  objective  truth  "  was  the 
mirror  in  which  the  walk  of  Demetrius  was  reflected,  and  his  form  appeared  in  the 
likeness  of  Christ."  (Alford.) 

2  John  adds  his  own  as  a  third  and  independent  testimony  to  the  excellence  of 
Demetrius. 

3  Compare  2  John  12,  where  instead  of  Ka\a/ui,ov,  pen,  the  apostle  uses  ^a/orou, 
paper.     The  apostle  means  the  writing  reed,  probably  split  for  use.     Perhaps  the 
infirmities  of  age  had  made  the  use  of  the  pen  wearisome. 

4  But  the  apostle  expected  shortly,  in  his  accustomed  visitations,  to  see  his  friend 
Gaius  face  to  face. 

5  This   salutation  may  well  remind  us  of  the  peace  promised  by  Christ  as  His 
legacy.     It  is  peace  of  conscience,  peace  flowing  from  fraternal  concord,  and  the 
heavenly  peace  shed  abroad  in  the  heart. 

6  The  apostle  give?  neither  the  names  of  those  sending  salutations,  nor  of  those 
to  whom  similar  greetings  are  sent.     So  intimate  were  the  relations  between  him 
and    Gaius  that  Gaius  would  know ;   the  friends  of  one  were  the  friends  of  the 
other. 


INDEX 


A. 

ABARIM.  mountains,  51. 

Absalom,  45,  51. 

Acts  of  Apostles,  chronology  of,  167. 

.Egean  Sea,  124,  146,  148. 

^Enon  near  to  Salim  in  Judaea,  59,  292 
note. 

^sculapius,  185  notes. 

Africa,  representatives  from,  at  Pente- 
cost, 124. 

Agrippa  I.,  history  of,  133;  resists 
Caligula's  setting  up  his  statue  in 
the  temple,  141 ;  his  miserable 
death,  ib. 

Agrippa  II.,  last  prince  of  house  of 
Herod,  141 ;  educated  by  Claudius 
at  Borne,  ib. ;  the  authority  con- 
ferred on  him,  ib. ;  St.  Paul  makes 
his  defence  before  him,  ib. ; 
attempts  to  dissuade  Jews  from 
rebellion,  ib. ;  wounded  at  siege  of 
Gamala,  ib.  ;  on  terms  of  intimacy 
with  Josephus,  ib. ;  sends  aux- 
iliaries for  invasion  of  Palestine  by 
Titus,  209  note. 

Akra,  55. 

Albinus,  governorship  of,  142. 

Alexander  the  Great,  147. 

Alexander  and  Rufus,  104  note. 

Alexandrian  Library,  8;  fuel  for 
Moslems,  ib. 

Ambrose  of  Milan  apologises  for 
faults  of  John,  29  note. 

Andreas,  171. 

Andrew  of  Bethsaida,   20;    is   with 
John  when  he  first  follows  Christ, 
40,  41. 
Annas  appointed  high-priest,  6,  362 


note-,  called  Ananus  by  Josephus, 
ib. ;  date  of  his  appointment,  ib. ; 
fills  the  office  till  the  death  of 
Augustus,  ib. ;  at  trial  of  Jesus,  97. 

Annius  Rufus  succeeds  Marcus  Am- 
bivius  as  procurator,  6. 

Antinomianism  the  substance  of 
heresies  of  heathenism  in  Asia 
Minor,  263. 

Antioch,  third  among  the  cities  of  the 
empire,  135;  early  controversy 
that  arose  here,  ib.,  144,  156. 

Antiochus  and  the  invasion  of  Pales- 
tine by  Titus,  209  note. 

Antiochus  Epiphanes,  his  Hellenizing 
designs  defeated,  3. 

Antipas,  185  note. 

Antipater,  procurator  of  Judaea,  4; 
poisoned,  ib. 

Antonia,  fortress  of,  54. 

Antonia,  friend  of  Mariamne,  133. 

Apocalypse,  beasts  of,  4;  similarity 
between  some  of  its  leading  sym- 
bols and  those  of  the  prophets  of 
the  captivity,  140 ;  vision  of,  seen  in 
Patmos,  148 ;  a  true  exposition 
much  depends  on  knowledge  of 
time  when  it  was  written,  149; 
question  of  authorship  settled,  151; 
date  from  peculiar  idiom,  ib.  ;  Sir 
Isaac  Newton's  opinion,  154;  date 
from  there  being  only  seven 
churches,  ib.;  written  while  Juda- 
izing  heretics  were  active  and 
possessed  power,  155;  while  the 
Jews  were  in  peaceful  possession  of 
their  own  land,  157;  before  Jeru- 
salem was  destroyed,  1.58;  while 


416 


INDEX. 


Nero,  the  sixth,   emperor,  was   on 
the    throne,    164;     probable    date 
A.D.   64—  A.D.  68,  166;  no  internal 
evidence  for  later  date,  167  ;  design 
of  thebookj  172. 
Apollos,  147. 
"Apology"  of  Socrates  quoted,  7  note. 

Apostles,  twelve,  chosen,  72 ;  their 
calling  and  training,  ib.  note-,  not 
rude  untaught  men,  ib. ;  names  of, 
74 ;  names  of  the  eleven,  123 ;  elect 
a  successor  to  Judas  Iscariot,  124 ; 
the  whole  body  imprisoned,  129 ;  the 
angel  of  the  Lord  brings  them  out, 
ib. ;  scattered  abroad,  131. 

Aquila,  134, 147. 

Arabia,  124 ;  king  of  sent  horsemen 
for  invasion  of  Palestine  under 
Titus,  209  note. 

Archelaus,  2 ;  receives  title  of  king, 
5;  the  title  contested  by  Herod 
Antipas,  ib. ;  confirmed  by  Augus- 
tus, ib. ;  his  government  corrupt, 
ib. ;  deposed,  ib. ;  his  sceptre  a 
mere  shadow,  ib. 

Arethas,  171. 

Aristobulus  I.,  nephews  of,  3;  Aristo- 
bulus  carried  captive  to  Rome,  ib. 

Armageddon,  battle  of,  233  note. 

Asceticism  of  heathen  and  Jewish 
heretics,  263. 

Asia  Minor,  Ionic  Asia,  146 ;  almost 
overrun  by  Mohammedans,  229 
note ;  one  of  chief  seats  of  ancient 
philosophy,  261. 

Athenteus,  126  note. 

Attains  Philadelphus,  his  attempt  to 
deepen  harbour  of  Ephesus,  146. 

Augustine,  his  title  of  I.  John,  Epistle 
to  Parthians,  139 ;  and  doctrine  of 
Chiliasts,  245  note-,  referred  to, 
317  note,  319  note. 

B. 

Ba'albek,  49. 

Babylon,  great  number  of  Jews 
settled  in,  138 ;  St.  Peter  supposed 
to  have  followed  them  in  his  apos- 
tolic work,  ?'&.;  his  First  Epistle 


written  from,  ib. ;  the  name  used 
by  him  metaphorically  not  sup- 
ported, ib. ;  figurative  in  Apo- 
calypse, 139,  225  note ;  the  Babylon 
of  Peter,  the  Chaldean,  139; 
account  of,  139,  225  note ;  fall  of 
spiritual  Babylon  foretold,  234  note, 
239  note-,  held  to  be  church  of 
Home  by  Romanists,  239  note ;  how 
fall  will  be  accomplished,  243  note. 

Bagdad,  Mohammedan  seat  of  civili- 
zation, 7. 

Balaam,  153, 154,  184  note. 

Banus,  a  teacher  of  Josephus,  36. 

Barbary,  Mohammedans  subdued,  229 
note. 

Barnabas  shows  traces  of  chiliasm  in 
his  writings,  245  note. 

Bartholomew,  48  note. 

Bashan,  46. 

Beatitudes,  Mount  of,  19,  46. 

Beautiful  Gate  of  Temple,  127. 

Bede  on  love  of  God  and  the  world, 
396  note. 

Benefactors  unjustly  treated  in  ancient; 
pagan  states,  8. 

Bethabara,  24,  33  note,  36,  45. 

Bethany,  53,  116 ;  place  of  ascension, 
ib. 

Bethel,  twelve  miles  from  Jerusalem, 
60 ;  ruins  cover  three  or  four  acres, 
ib. ;  scene  of  Jacob's  vision,  ib. 

Bethsaida,  two  towns  of  this  name, 
16  note;  meaning  of  the  word,  17, 
49,  50. 

Beth-shean,  24,  46,  50. 

Bezetha,  a  hill  of  Jerusalem,  56. 

Birth  of  Christ,  2 ;  date  of,  ib. ; 
universal  peace  at,  5;  Magians 
bring  tidings  of  it,  ib. 

Boanerges,  its  meaning,  27,  72,  75. 

Boniface  "VIII.  attempts  to  make 
pontifical  authority  universal,  222 
note. 

Britain  constituted  a  Eoman  pro- 
vince, 134. 

Britannicus,  142. 

Burrhus  prefect  in  time  of  Nero,  142. 

Byzantine  cities,  147. 


INDEX. 


417 


c. 

Cabbalistic    lore,    John's    familiarity 

with,  262. 

Caasars,  the  twelve,  2. 
Caasar,  Augustus,  date  of  his  death, 
2  note;  comes  to  sole  and  supreme 
dignity,  5 ;  unites  all  offices  in  his 
own  person,  ib. ;  ratifies  will  of 
Herod  the  Great,  ib. ;  Caasar, 
Tiberius,  associated  with  Augustus 
in  the  government,  2  note  ;  Augus- 
tus dies  A.D.  14,  6;  temple  to  him  at 
Csesarea  Philippi,  78,  146  ;  styled  a 
god,  218  note. 

Caasar,  Caligula,  Caius  0.,  his  reign, 
132  ;  raises  his  horse  and  wife  to 
consulate,  ib.  ;  his  thirst  for  blood, 
ib.,  141. 

Caasar,  Claudius,  his  character,  133  ; 
mild  government,  134;  repeals 
Caligula's  cruel  edicts,  ib. ;  expels 
Jews  from  Rome,  ib.,  141,  142. 

Caasar,  Domitian,  155,  157- 

Caasar,  Julius,  born,  2;  enters  on  his 
great  career,  3  ;  strides  to  supreme 
power,  ib.;  his  assassination,  4; 
his  great  gifts,  ib.  ;  civil  disorder 
following  his  death,  ib.,  204;  divine 
honours  paid  to,  218  note. 

Caasar,  Nero,  on  imperial  throne,  142 ; 
at  first  governed  mildly,  ib. ;  his 
atrocities,  ib. ;  frivolous  character, 
ib. ;  sets  fire  to  Eome,  ib. ;  accuses 
Christians  of  the  crime,  and  com- 
mences persecution,  143  ;  miserable 
end,  ib. ;  expected  to  rise  from  the 
dead,  144, 164, 165,  206,  208. 

Caasar,  Tiberius,  sways  the  sceptre 
during  the  larger  part  of  the  life  of 
Christ,  6;  emperor  twenty-three 
years,  ib. ;  history  and  death,  132. 

Caasar,  Vespasian,  proclaimed  em- 
peror, 143;  receives  commission 
from  Nero,  160 

(Jaasarea,  144. 

Caasarea  Philippi,  78,  79. 

Caiaphas,  high-priest,  6;  acquainted 
with  St.  John,  23,  97. 


Calvary,  skull  place,  104  note,  6. 

Cana,  fifty  miles  from  the  Jordan,  47 ; 
home  of  Nathanael,  48 ;  miracle  of 
Christ  here,  ib.,67. 

Capernaum,  Galilean  home  of  Jesus, 
49  ;  site  cannot  be  ascertained,  16, 
49  ;  convenient  centre  for  the  form- 
ation of  caravans  to  Jerusalem,  49  ; 
route  from  to  Jerusalem,  50,  68. 

Capreaa,  Tiberius  Caasar  retires  to 
this  place,  6. 

Carmel,  66. 

Caspian  Sea,  49,  124. 

Cayster,  the  river,  146,  147. 

Cerinthus,  advocate  of  chiliasm,  245 
note;  views  of  Christ  and  Jesus, 
267 ;  John's  Gospel  not  written  to 
refute,  276;  his  Epistles  neither, 
397  note;  heresy  of  followers  re- 
ferred to  by  St.  John,  406. 

Chaldeans,  oriental  philosophy  rife 
among,  262. 

Chamber,  upper,  where  disciples  met, 
122  note. 

Charlemagne  invests  popes  with  ad- 
ditional power,  222  note. 

Chiliasts,  245  note. 

Chorazin,  site  of,  unknown,  16. 

Christ  Jesus, birth  to  ascension,  Chap- 
ters IV.,  V.,  VI.,  passim. 

Christianity,  relation  to  changes  in 
the  nations,  1;  influence  attending 
its  introduction,  9 ;  truth  estab- 
lished by  resurrection  of  Christ, 
111. 

Christians,  not  distinguished  from 
Jews  by  heathen,  134;  disciples 
first  called  Christians  at  Antioch, 
135 ;  controversy  under  ministry  of 
Paul  and  Barnabas,  135 ;  tortures 
in  persecution  under  Nero,  143. 

Chrysostom  on  John  in  Ephesus,  261. 
Churches,  in  Asia,  only  seven  when 
Apocalypse  was  written,  154 ;  pro- 
bably visited  by  John  A.D.  65  or  66, 
263  ;  description  of  his  journey,  183. 
Chuza  the  nobleman,  67. 
Cicero,  his  oration  Pro  lege  Manilla, 
3  ;  writings  of,  8. 

2  E 


418 


INDEX. 


Cilicia,  156. 

Cleopatra    and    balsam    gardens    at 

Jericho,    52 ;  interview  there   with 

Herod  the  Great,  i~b. 
Cloisters  of  temple,  57. 
Cnidus,  its  worship  of  Venus,  145. 
Cock-crowing,  De  Wette  on,  90  note. 
Cocks,  scarcity  of  in  Jerusalem,  90 

note. 
Ccele- Syria,        Pompey        marching 

through,  3. 
Colossae,  destroyed  by  an  earthquake 

before  Bevelation  was  written,  155 ; 

referred     to,     265;      Paul     found 

gnostics  there,  267. 
Colosseum,  Titus  completes,  259. 
Confessions  of  pagan  philosophers,  7. 
Constance,  Council  of,  223. 
Constantine,  vision  of,  106  note. 
Constantinople,  antique  agate  intaglio 

found    at,    26,    147;    besieged    by 

Mohammedans,  229. 
Coponius,  a  procurator  under  Cyre- 

nius,  5. 
Cordova,   one    of  the    Mohammedan 

seats  of  civilization,  7. 
Coressus,  Mount,  at  Ephesus,  146. 
Corinthians,  SeconcTEpistle  to,  155. 
Court  of  Gentiles  in  Jewish  temple,  56. 
Cranmer,  128  note. 

Craving  for  blood  a  recognised  appe- 
tite by  ancient  rulers,  9. 
Cross,    forms  of    the,  105    note;   its 

wood,  ib. ;  Lipsius  on,  ib. 
Crusades    set     on     foot,     229    note; 

preached  by  Peter  the  Hermit,  ib. 
Culture,  ancient,  deficiency  in  moral 

power,  8. 

Cumanus,  governor  of  Judaea,  142. 
Cypros,  wife  of  Agrippa  I.,  133. 
Cyprus,  its  forests,  145. 
Cyrenius,  governor  of  Syria,  2  note  ; 

a  second  time,  5. 
Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  104  note. 


D. 


Damascus,  49. 

Damascus  gate,  104  note,  369  note. 


Daniel,  beasts  of,  4,  140,  151. 

Dante  denounced  corruptions  of 
Eomanism,  239  note. 

Darkness  at  the  crucifixion,  108. 

David,  highest  splendour  of  the  old 
covenant  appears  in  him,  12; 
farther  development  of  the  expect- 
ations of  a  Messiah,  ib.,  51. 

Dead  Sea,  51. 

Deoapolis,  24,  78  note,  144. 

Demetrius,  co-labourer  with  St.  John 
in  Asia  Minor,  267. 

Demoniacal  possessions,  how  over- 
ruled for  good,  68  note. 

Destruction  of  works  of  ancient 
genius,  8. 

Development  of  prophecy  concerning 
Messiah,  12. 

Diana,  temple  of,  147  ;  fired  by  Hero- 
stratus,  ib. ;  worship  of,  262. 

Diocletian  persecution  a  shadow  com- 
pared with  that  of  Duke  of  Alva, 
237  note. 

Dion  Cassius,  132  note,  133  note. 

Dionysius  Exiguus  institutes  the 
practice  of  dating  from  birth  of 
Christ,  2  note. 

Docetaa,    doctrine    of,    267;     contro- 
verted by  John,  391  note  ;  practical 
refutation  of,  406  note;    he  warns 
against,  410  note. 
Dominic,  St.,  commenced  Inquisition, 

230  note. 

Domitian,  proof  in   Apocalypse   the 
imprisonment  of  John  did  not  take 
place  under,  211  note. 
Druids,  bloody  rites  of,  abolished  by 
Claudius  Caesar,  134. 


E. 


Earthquake  at  resurrection  of  Christ, 

1 13  note. 
East,  customs  of,  imitated  by  Komish 

clergy    previous    to    Eeformation, 

228  note. 

Ebal  and  Gerizim,  62,  64. 
Ebionites,  their  doctrine,  267;  after 

destruction   of  Jerusalem  met  by 


INDEX. 


419 


John  everywhere,  ib. ;  John's  Gos- 
pel not  a  polemic  against,  276. 

Economy,  Jewish,  shadow  of  good 
things  to  come,  11. 

Education  of  St.  John,  20;  use  of 
sacred  literature  in  education  com- 
pared with  pagan,  ib.;  provisions 
for  national  education  among  the 
Jews,  21. 

Egypt,  austerities  of  theology  of,  9 ; 
subdued  by  Mohammedans,  229 
note. 

Eleazer,  son  of  Annas,  high-priest,  6. 

Election  of  Matthias  to  apostleship, 
124 

Elijah,  home  of,  51 ;  in  scene  of  trans- 
figuration, 80. 

Elliott  on  symbolical  language  of 
prophets,  206. 

Emperors,  Roman,  resemblance  be- 
tween and  the  popes,  in  usurping 
Divine  honours,  220  note. 

Epaphras  a  co-labourer  with  St.  John, 
267. 

Ephesus,  St.  John  embarks  for,  from 
his  native  land,  144  ;  elders  of,  145, 
156;  Miletus  probable  port  of  at 
this  time,  145 ;  unsuccessful  at- 
tempt of  Attains  Philadelphus  to 
improve  its  harbour,  146;  great 
emporium  of  wide  region,  ib. ; 
largely  built  on  Prion  and  Coressus, 
ib. ;  its  antiquity,  wealth  and 
magnificence,  ib.,  183 ;  a  centre  of 
Greek  culture,  ib. ;  ruins  on  sides 
of  Prion  and  Coressus,  ib. ;  its 
temple  of  Diana  a  wonder  of  the 
world,  147 ;  history  of  temple,  ib. ; 
ruins  of  this  temple  discovered  by 
Wood  in  1871,  ib. ;  St.  John  found 
Christian  community  there,  ib. ; 
Apollos,  Priscilla,  Aquila,  and  Paul 
had  been  there  before  him,  Paul 
for  three  years,  ib. ;  John  is  soon 
banished  to  Patmos  from,  148,  257 ; 
books  of  worshippers  of  Diana 
burned,  262  ;  John  returns  to  after 
death  of  Nero,  257 ;  the  centre  of 
his  chief  labours,  262;  conditions 


for  adulteration  of  Christianity 
found  there,  ib.;  road  from  to 
Smyrna,  263 ;  St.  John  writes  his 
Gospel  in,  268,  386. 

Ephraim,  mountains  of,  61,  81. 

Epictetus,  morals  of,  260. 

Epiphanes,  Antiochus,  representation 
of  in  Daniel,  219  note. 

Epiphanius  dated  Apocalypse  before 
reign  of  Nero,  171 ;  admitted  to 
have  been  inaccurate,  ib. 

Esdraelon,  plain  of,  15, 16;  described, 
16,  60. 

Essenes  inhabited  "wilderness  of 
Judaea  "  for  ascetic  seclusion,  36. 

Essenic  Judaists,  encountered  by  Paul 
at  Colossae,  267. 

Euphrates,  3,  49, 124, 138,  225. 

Euripides  referred  to,  211  note. 

Euroclydons,  Mediterranean  famed 
for,  145. 

Eusebius  the  first  to  expressly  assert 
that  John  was  in  Patmos  in  time  of 
Domitian,  170;  does  not  ascribe 
Apocalypse  to  him,  ib.;  influence 
of  Dionysius  of  Alexandria  on,  ib. ; 
Jerome  and  other  ancient  author- 
ities depend  on  him  for  later  date 
of  Apocalypse,  ib. ;  his  story  of  St. 
John  and  young  robber  incon- 
sistent with  later  date,  171 ;  held 
Christ's  public  ministry  extended 
over  more  than  three  years,  299 
note;  refers  to  use  Papias  made  of  I. 
John,  380;  on  time  of  St.  John's 
death,  384;  his  connection  with 
tradition  of  St.  John  and  Cerinthus 
at  the  bath,  386. 

Ezekiel,  similarity  between  his  sym- 
bols and  those  of  Apocalypse,  140. 

Ezra  trained  teachers  for  the  people, 
21. 


F. 

Fadus,  governor  of  Judaea,  142. 
Felix,  governor  of  Judaea,  142. 
Festus,  governor  of  Judaea,  142. 
Florus,  governor  of  Judaea,   142; 


420 


INDEX. 


systematic  plunderer,  143 ;  a  fit 
representative  of  Nero,  ib. ;  his  ex- 
tortions extended  to  whole  districts, 
ib. ;  last  war  of  Jews  with  Romans 
attributed  to  him,  ib. 
Fountain  of  the  Virgin,  the  true  Pool 
of  Bethesda,  299  note,  300  note. 

G. 

Gad  and  Eeuben,    their  portion  of 

promised  land,  51. 
Gaius,  co-labourer  with   St.  John  in 

Asia  Minor,  267. 
Galba,  219  note,  237  note. 
Galilee   described,    16;    its    crowded 
population,  18  ;    remarkably  fitted 
for  ministry  of  Christ,  19;  distance 
from  to  Jerusalem,  50 ;    no  longer 
St.   John's    home    after    death    of 
Christ,  122. 
Galilee,  Sea  of,  described,  18;  busy 

scene  of  life  on  its  shores,  48. 
Gallio,    not    impossible    Seneca,   his 
brother,  obtained  some  knowledge 
of  Christianity  through,  260. 
Gallus,  his  retreat  from  Jerusalem, 

161. 
Gamala,    inhabitants    massacred    by 

Romans,  144. 

Gamaliel,  young  Saul  of  Tarsus  at  his 
feet,  25  ;  his  chief  celebrity,  ib. ;  not 
responsible  for  Stephen's  death,  130 
note. 

Gennesaret,  plain  of,  50. 
Gentiles,  court  of,  in  temple,  56. 
Gerizim  and  Ebal,  62  ;  described,  64. 
Gethsemane,  its  location,  92 ;  Christ's 

agony  in,  ib. 
el-Ghuweir,  47  note. 
Gilboa,  mountains  of,  46. 
Gilead,  46;  described,  51. 
Gnosticism  substantially  the  doctrine 
of  Simon   Magus,    131  ;    found   by 
St.  John  at  Ephesus,  262  ;  St.  Paul 
mentions   it  in    I.   Timothy,   263; 
what  it  taught  respecting   Christ, 
267 ;    ancients  held    fourth  Gospel 
a  polemic  against,  276  ;  I.  John  not 
written  to  refute,  397  note. 


Grecian     philosophy     cultivated     in 

Ephesus,  261. 
Greece,    writers    of,    was    St.    John 

familiar  with  ?  260. 
Greek  of  synagogue,  N.  T.  written  in, 

152 ;  wedded  to  Hebrew,  ib.,  153. 

H. 

Harvest,  legal  beginning  of,  in  Pales- 
tine, 65. 
Hebrew   Greek    language  of  N.   T., 

152. 

Hebrews,  Epistle  to,  152. 
Hegesippus  on  death  of  St.  James, 

162,  213  note. 

Herculaneum  and  Pompeii,  remains 
of,  show  productions  of  ancient 
genius  defiled,  8 ;  buried  beneath 
ashes  at  eruption  of  Vesuvius, 
259. 
Heresies  arising  from  heathenism, 

263. 
Hermas,  his  writings  show  traces  of 

chiliasm,  245  note. 
Hermon,  66,  78,  79,  144. 
Hermus,  the  river,  146,  263. 
Herod      Agrippa    T.,     grandson     of 
Herod  the  Great,  133  ;  early  life  one 
of     adventure,     ib.;      wasted     his 
estate,    ib. ;     pensioner   of    Herod 
Antipas,  ib. ;  made  king  by  Cali- 
gula, ib. ;  martyrs  St.  James,  134 ; 
Judsea  added  to  his  dominions  by 
Claudius,  ib. ;  his  miserable  death, 
141. 

Herod  Agrippa  II.,  son  of  Agrippa 
I.,  141  ;  Claudius  at  first  kept  him 
at  Rome  on  account  of  his  youth, 
ib. ;  before  him  St.  Paul  made  his 
celebrated  defence,  ib. ;  his  death, 
ib. 

Herod  Antipas  receives  Galilee  and 
Peraea  under  his  father's  will,  5 ; 
hastened  to  Rome  to  have  will  set 
aside,  ib. ;  ratified  by  Augustus,  ib. ; 
Christ  sent  to  him  by  Pilate,  100 ; 
Jesus  silent  before  him,  ib. ;  he  and 
Pilate  made  friends,  101,  133. 


INDEX. 


421 


Herod,  Philip,  vacant  tetrarchate  of, 
conferred  on  Agrippa  I.  by  Clau- 
dius, 133, 141. 

Herod  the  Great,  date  of  his  death, 
2  note  ;  rex  socius,  ib. ;  second  son  of 
Antipater,  4 ;  governor  of  Galilee, 
•ib. ;  king  of  Judaea,  ib. ;  marries 
Mariamne,  ib. ;  establishes  his  power 
by  cruelty,  ib. ;  expends  vast  sums 
on  the  temple,  ib. ;  his  massacre  of 
the  innocents,  5,  215  note  ;  his  hor- 
rible death,  ib. ;  will  of,  5. 

Herodian  dynasty,  important  connec- 
tion of  with  Christian  history  and 
time  of  St.  John,  2. 

Herodotus  describes  Libyans  making 
use  of  locusts  for  food,  35  note  ;  re- 
ferred to,  198  note. 

Herostratus  fired  temple  of  Diana, 
147. 

Heshbon,  51. 

Hierapolis,  St.  John  visits,  265 ; 
intimate  connection  of  church  of 
with  those  in  Laodicea  and  Colossse, 
266. 

High-priest  acquainted  with  John, 
128. 

Hillel,  grandfather  of  Gamaliel,  estab- 
lishes school,  25. 

Hinnom,  Valley  of,  56. 

Hippicus,  tower  of  Jerusalem,  2,  55. 

Holy  Land  becomes  tributary  to 
Eomans,  3. 

Holy  Sepulchre,  crusades  set  on  foot 
to  rescue,  229  note. 

Horology,  Roman,  41,  64  note;  St. 
John  adopts  in  his  Gospel,  269. 

House,  Jewish,  described,  58;  of  the 
better  class,  95. 

Human  mind,  culture  of,  under  pagan- 
ism, 7. 

Huss  prepared  way  for  Luther,  230. 

Hymn  at  institution  of  Lord's  Sup- 
per, 92. 

Hyrcanus,  nephew  of  Aristobulus  I., 
at  war  with  his  cousin  Aristobulus, 
3;  Pompey  espouses  his  cause, 
ib. ;  government  left  in  his  hands, 
ib. 


Idumea,  72,  209  note. 

Ignatius  of  Antioch ,  a  co-labourer  with 
St.  John,  267. 

Inquisition  commenced  by  St.  Domi- 
nic, 230  note ;  modes  of  torture  of, 
ib.  ;  auto  da  Fe,  ib. 

Intercessory  prayer  of  Christ,  its 
purport,  91. 

Ionic  Asia,  Asia  Minor,  146. 

Irenaaus  quoted,  168 ;  referred  to, 
223  note,  299  note,  380. 

Isaiah  referred  to,  151. 

Ismael,  son  of  Fabus,  high-priest,  6. 

Italy,  disciples  of  Mohammed  subdue 
great  part  of,  229  note ;  in  time  of 
French  Eevolution,  232  note ; 
priestly  dominion  in,  collapsed,  234 
note. 

J. 

Jacob,  dying  words  of,  11. 

Jacobus  referred  to,  311  note. 

Jairus,  raising  of  daughter  of,  to  life, 
70. 

James,  St.,  brother  of  St.  John,  20, 
134,  162. 

Janus,  temple  of,  closed,  5. 

Jehoshaphat,  Valley  of,  53,  92. 

Jephthah,  36. 

Jeremiah,  151. 

Jericho,  50;  its  ancient  beauty,  52; 
its  spices,  ib. ;  the  revenue  of  its 
balsam  gardens  presented  to  Cleo- 
patra, ib. ;  it  was  here  Herod  the 
Great  met  this  queen,  ib. ;  his 
favourite  place  of  residence,  ib. ;  he 
died  here,  ib. 

Jerome  referred  to,  26,  246  note,  287 
note,  382,  384. 

Jerusalem  surrenders  to  Pompey,  3  ; 
its  situation,  15  ;  scene  of  wonders 
for  centuries  before  St.  John,  16 ; 
St.  John  made  his  first  acquaint- 
ance with  at  early  age,  24 ;  route  to 
from  Galilee,  ib.,  50;  walls  of  de- 
scribed, 24, 55, 57;  St.  John  visits  for 
the  first  time  with  the  Master,  53;  its 


422 


INDEX. 


splendour,  54;  topographical  sketch 
of  Josephus,  55  ;  its  temple,  56  ;  its 
houses,  58 ;  its  days  of  tribulation 
at  hand,  141 ;  premonitions  of 
struggle  in  which  it  was  to  be  over- 
thrown, 142;  destroyed  by  Titus, 
143,  259;  temple  destroyed,  160; 
whole  city  demolished  excepting 
three  towers  and  portion  of  wall,  ib., 
258;  not  destroyed  when  Apo- 
calypse was  written,  158  ;  St.  John 
hears  of  destruction  after  his  im- 
prisonment in  Patmos,  255 ;  St. 
James  bishop  of,  killed  there,  256 ; 
representations  of  spoils  taken  from 
temple,  to  be  seen  in  Rome,  259 ; 
in  possession  of  Saracens,  229  note ; 
crusades,  ib. 

Jews  hate  Roman  yoke,  6  ;  new  era  in 
their  education  in  post  exile  period, 
21 ;  hatred  of  Samaritans,  23 ; 
denied  power  of  life  and  death,  99 
note  ;  foreign,  martyr  Stephen,  130. 

Jewish  nation  made  tributary  to 
Rome,  3  ;  its  condition  as  connected 
with  life  and  writings  of  St.  John, 
10;  schools  of,  21;  branches  of 
study,  22;  Jewish  party  in  church 
at  Antioch,  135 ;  nearly  a  million 
and  a  half  perished  in  the  invasion 
of  Judaea  and  siege  of  Jerusalem, 
201  note ;  method  of  dividing  day, 
269. 

Jezebel,  187  note. 

Jezreel,  valley  of,  46  note,  65. 

John,  St.     See  Contents  of  Chapters. 

St.  John,  his  writings  : 

Apocalypse.     See  Chapter  X. 
I.,  II,  III.  Epistles.      See  Chap- 
ter XY. 
Gospel.     See  Chapter  XIII. 

John  the  Baptist,  his  relation  to 
Christ,  32;  his  relation  to  St.  John, 
ib. ;  his  abstinent  life,  33 ;  his  mes- 
sage, ib. ;  his  holiness  from  birth, 
34;  its  influence  on  St.  John,  35  ; 
St.  John  becomes  his  disciple  in  the 
desert,  ib. ;  St.  John's  preparation 
under  him,  38 ;  points  St.  John  to 


Jesus  as  the  Lamb  of  God,  39 ;  con- 
necting link  between  old  and  new 
economies,  42 ;  his  self  abnegation, 
ib. ;  death,  43  ;  sends  message  to 
Jesus  when  in  prison,  70. 

Joppa  laid  waste  by  Romans,  144. 

Jordan,  the  river,  46,  50  ;  passage  of 
under  Joshua,  52. 

Jordan,  the  valley  of,  14,  24,  46. 

Joseph  of  Arimathsea,  97, 110, 112  note. 

Josephus  referred  to,  2 ;  calls  Annas 
Ananus,  6;  referred  to,  16  note, 
23  note,  24  note,  25;  account  of 
Banns,  36  ;  description  of  plain  of 
Gennesaret,  50  ;  topographical 
sketch  of  Jerusalem,  55  ;  Robinson 
on  his  accuracy,  56  ;  description  of 
temple,^., 97 note,H2note;  intimate 
with  Agrippa  II.,  141 ;  alive  at  end 
of  first  century,  142 ;  et  al. 

Jotapata,  entire  population  of,  put  to 
sword  by  Romans,  144. 

Judas  the  Gaulonite,  23. 

Judsea,  rural  parts  of,  59 ;  introduced 
as  foreign  name  in  the  Acts,  124 
note  ;  added  to  dominions  of 
Agrippa  I.  by  Claudius,  134. 

Julian,  220  note. 

Jupiter's  temple  in  Athens  surpassed 
by  Diana's  in  Ephesus,  147. 


K. 


Kana-el-Jelil,  Cana  of  Galilee,  47. 
Kedron,  the  brook,  92,  360  note;  the 

valley  of  the,  56. 
Kefr  Kenna,  48. 
Kelt,  the  stream  of,  52. 
Khan  Minyeh,  supposed  by  Robinson 

to  be  site  of  Capernaum,  49. 


L. 


Labarum,  105  note,  106  note. 

Laodicea,  site  of  one  of  Apocalyptic 
churches,  146 ;  overwhelmed  by 
earthquake,  155;  St.  John  visits, 
265;  intimate  connection  between 
church  of  and  those  of  Hierapolis 


INDEX. 


423 


and  Colossae,  266 ;  persons  St.  John 
probably  found  there,  ib. 

Law,  the,  a  schoolmaster,  11;  cere- 
monial, typical  of  Christ,  ib. 

Lazarus,  resurrection  of,  82,  330. 

Lebanon,  ranges  of,  14,  63, 144  ;  region 
of,  49.  ' 

Libyans,  Herodotus  describes  making 
use  of  locusts  for  food,  35  note. 

Literature,  memorable  epoch  in,  6 ; 
pagan  at  its  highest  point  of  culture, 
7 ;  pagan  compared  with  sacred 
literature  for  use  in  education,  20. 

Locusts,  35  note,  206  note,  207  note. 

Lucan  the  poet  murdered  by  Nero, 
142. 

Luther  referred  to,  230  note,  231 
note,  240  note,  246  note,  281  note,  299 
note ;  et  al. 

Lysanias,  141. 


M. 


Maccabees,  Herod  attempts  to  exter- 
minate, 4. 

Madonna  has  usurped  place  of  the 
Trinity  in  Romish  worship,  221  note ; 
picture  of  at  Vico  Varro,  222  note. 

Maeander,  the  river,  146,  266. 

Magdeburg  Centuriators,  146  note. 

Magnesia,  church  at,  155. 

Mahanaim,  36,  51. 

Mariamne,  granddaughter  of  Hyr- 
canus,  marries  Herod,  4,  133. 

Martin  V.,  bull  against  heretics,  223 
note. 

Martyr,  Justin,  131  note,  318  note. 

Mary,  mother  of  our  Lord,  at  the 
cross,  107 ;  St.  John's  care  for,  ib. ; 
assumption  of,  108;  last  mentioned 
in  New  Testament,  123,  370. 

Mary  Magdalene,  107,  113,  114,  370. 

Mary,  sister  of  Lazarus,  84,  330. 

Mary,  wife  of  Cleophas,  107,  123,  370. 

Masada,  fortress  of,  210. 

Matthew,  St.,  call  of,  69 ;  striking 
humility,  ib.  note. 

Matthias  chosen  apostle,  124. 


Mediterranean  Sea,  Mare  Internum, 

4,  46,  229  note. 

Megiddo,  the  hill  of,  233  note. 
Melanchthon,  St.  John  compared  with, 

30 ;  purport  of  intercessory  prayer, 

92  note ;  referred  to,  281  note. 
Miletus,  145,  146. 
Millet,  fields  of,  in  June,  62. 
Milton,  rebellion  in  heaven,  216  note. 
Miracles,    unrecorded,  of  Christ,  58 ; 

at    Christ's    death,   108  ;     at    His 

resurrection,  112. 

Mishna  referred  to,  62  note,  112  note. 
Mithridates,  war  against,  under  Pom- 

pey,  3. 

Mohammed  referred  to,  7,  229  note. 
Moriah,   Mount,    site   of  the   Jewish 

temple,  54,  56,  92. 
Moses,  type  of  personal  Messiah,  11 ; 

in  the  scene  of  transfiguration,  80. 
Muza,  threat  of,  229  note. 


N. 


Nablus,  59,  62. 

Naiii,  great  miracle  at  its  gate,  70. 

Naos  of  the  temple,  57. 

Nathanael,    companion   of    St.    John 

when  he  first  followed  Jesus,  46. 
Nebo,  summit  of  Pisgah,  51. 
Nero.     See  Caesar  Nero. 
Netherlands,  237. 
Nicodemus,  St.  John  probably  present 

at  his  interview  with  Christ,  58. 
Nicolaitans,  Nicolaus,  155, 184  note. 
Nobleman's  son  healed,  68. 
Numidia   subdued  by  Moslems,  229 

note. 


0. 


Onesimus,  a  co-labourer  with  St.  John 

in  Asia  Minor,  267. 
Oriental  philosophy,  262. 
Origen    referred    to,    245   note,    281 

note,  287  note,  384. 
Ottoman  power,  229  note. 
Ovid  styles  Augustus  a  god,  218  note . 


424 


INDEX. 


P. 

P«ctolu8,  the  river,  18  note. 

Pagan  system   of    antiquity    falling 

before  Christianity,  9. 
Palace  of  Asmoneans,  54 ;  of  Herod 

ib. ;  of  high-priest,  95. 
Palestine,  census  before  Herod's  time, 
2  note  i  its  importance  not  to  be 
estimated  by  geographical  extent 
14;  its  breadth,  length,  and  posi- 
tion, ib.  ;  central  position,  ib.  ; 
scene  of  conflict  of  Eome  with  Asia, 
ib.-,  battle  field  from  day  of  Assyrian 
kings  to  time  of  Mehemet  Ali,  ib. ; 
pilgrims  from  northern  to  Jerusa- 
lem, 49,  209  note,  216  note,  229 
note. 

Pantheon,  8. 

Papias  exhibits  traces  of  chiliasm  in 
his  writings,  245  note  ;  a  co-labourer 
with  St.  John  in  Asia  Minor,  267 ; 
used  I.  John  according  to  Eusebius, 
380. 
Parables  of  Christ,  of  the  kingdom, 

74. 

Paschal  lamb,  St.  John  assists  at  slay- 
ing, 85. 

Passover,  preparation  of,  26 ;  Christ's 
first  after  beginning  His  ministry, 
54 ;  his  last,  86. 

Patmos,  145 ;  place  of  St.  John's  ban- 
ishment, 148  ;  location  and  descrip- 
tion of,  ib.  181  note ;  now  called  Pa- 
tino  and  Patmosa,  181  note. 
Paul,  St.,  first  possible  meeting  with 
St.  John,  25 ;  coeval  with  St.  John, 
ib. ;  the   twelfth   apostle,  124  note ; 
his  share  in  martyrdom  of  Stephen, 
130  ;  and  Barnabas  at  Antioch,  135 ; 
labours  in  Ephesus,  147. 
Paulus  referred  to,  104  note. 
Peace,  universal,  at  birth  of  Christ,  5. 
Pella,  144. 

Pentapolis  and    Eavenna,   exarchate 
of,  conferred  on  popes  by   Pepin, 
222  note. 
Pentecost,  125. 
Pepin  crossed  Alps,  and  was  instru- 


ment by  which  popes  gained  power, 
222  note. 

Peraea,  transjordanic  country,  44,  72. 
Pergamos,  146,  156;  in  southern  part 
of  Mysia,  on  the  Ceteus,  185  note ; 
a  seat  of  literature  and  science,  ib. ; 
Church  of  St.  John,  ib. ;  St.  John 
visits,  264 ;  journey  to  from  Smyrna, 
ib. 

Persecution,  first  great,  130. 
Persian  manner  of  reclining  at  table 
adopted  by  Jews,  89  note ;  repre- 
sentatives  at   Pentecost,    124  ;  the 
philosophy  of,   rife  among  people, 
262. 
Perugia    and    Spoleto    conferred   on 

popes  by  Charlemagne,  222  note. 
Peter,  St.,  of  Bethsaida,  20;  com- 
panion of  St.  John  at  his  follow- 
ing Christ,  46 ;  associated  with  Sc. 
John,  84,  85 ;  at  trial,  crucifixion, 
and  resurrection  of  Jesus,  90-126; 
in  company  with  St.  John  performs 
a  miracle,  127;  is  cast  with  him 
into  prison,  128;  courage  before 
high-priest,  ib. ;  accompanies  St. 
John  to  Samaria,  131 ;  not  men- 
tioned in  Acts  after  council  at  Jeru- 
salem, 138;  probably  travelled  to 
the  Euphrates,  ib. ;  fabled  residence 
and  pontificate  in  Kome,  236  note. 
Peter  the  Hermit  preaches  the  cru- 
sades, 229  note. 
Petrarch  denounces  corruption  of 

Church  of  Eome,  239  note. 
Petronius,  Publius,  character  of,  113. 
Dhasaelis,  tower  of  Jerusalem,  25. 
Philadelphia,     site     of     Apocalyptic 
church,    149  ;     on     north     eastern 
slope  of  range  of  Mount  Tmolus, 
187  note;  in  1391  only  city  in  Asia 
Minor  not  taken  by  Moslems,  ib. ; 
finally  surrendered  with   honours, 
ib.  -,  St.  John  visits,  265. 
Philip,  St.,  a  companion  of  St.  John 

when  he  first  followed  Christ,  46. 
^hilip  the  evangelist  in  Samaria,  131. 
Philo  of  Alexandria  referred  to,  133 
note,  279  note. 


INDEX. 


425 


Philosophy  fails  to  reveal  God,  7; 
oriental,  262. 

Phcenicia,Pompey's  march  through,  3. 

Pilate,  Pontius,  succeeds  Gratus  as 
governor,  6 ;  his  character  shown  in 
the  trial  of  Christ,  99 ;  fails  in  his 
attempts  to  release  Jesus,  ib.,  103; 
his  title  over  head  of  Jesus,  106. 

"Pillar  of  the  Church,"  St.  John 
denominated  by  St.  Paul,  135. 

Pisgah,  51. 

Plato  referred  to,  7  note ;  high  achieve- 
ment of  mind  of  man  seen  in  his 
writings,  8. 

Pliny  the  Elder  referred  to,  35  note, 
153  note;  perished  in  eruption  of 
Vesuvius,  259  ;  was  St.  John 
brought  into  contact  with  ?  260. 

Pliny  the  Younger,  was  St.  John 
brought  into  contact  with  ?  260. 

Plutarch,  was  St.  John  brought  into 
contact  with?  260;  his  advanced 
morals,  ib. 

Polycarp  suffered  martyrdom  in 
Smyrna,  184  note;  no  traces  of 
chiliasm  in  his  writings,  245  note; 
appointed  bishop  of  church  in 
Smyrna,  264,  267  ;  suffered  martyr- 
dom, A.D.  167  or  168  ;  freely  quotes 
I.  John  in  his  writings,  380  ;  legend 
of  St.  John  and  Cerinthus  at  the 
bath  attributed  to,  386. 

Pompeii,  remains  of  show  defilement 
of  productions  of  ancient  genius, 
9 ;  buried  beneath  ashes  at  erup- 
tion of  Vesuvius,  259. 

Pompey  the  Great,  representative  of 
aristocratic  party,  3;  his  connec- 
tion with  Julius  Caesar,  ib. ;  has 
command  in  war  with  Mithridates, 
ib.;  triumphal  entry  into  Rome,  ib. ; 
his  glory  declines,  ib.,  141. 

Pontifex  Maxim  us,  chief  priest  of 
pagan  Rome,  221  note. 

Poppaea,  wife  of  Nero,  142  ;  died  from 
cruelty  of  her  husband,  ib. 

Portugal  subdued  by  Moslems,  229 
note ;  commerce  of,  240  note. 

Prion,  Mount,  at  Ephesus,  146. 


Priscilla,  147. 

Procurators,  Roman,  held  court  at 
Csesarea,  5;  Coponius  under  Qui- 
rinius,  ib. ;  government  in  hands  of 
after  deposition  of  Archelaus,  ib. 

Promise  to  Abraham,  10 ;  blossoms 
into  prophecy,  12. 

Ptolemy  Lagus,  120  note. 

Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  120  note. 

Ptolemies,  under  domination  of,  pre- 
paration of  world  for  Christ,  10. 


Q. 


Quintilian,  was  St.  John  brought  into 
contact  with  ?  260. 

Quirinius  same  as  Cyrenius,  2  note; 
governor  of  Syria,  5;  appoints 
Annas  high-priest,  362  note. 


R. 


Ravenna  and  Pentapolis,  exarchate  of, 
conferred  on  popes  by  Pepin,  222 
note. 

Reformation,  the,  Wicklif  and  Huss 
prepare  way  for,  230  note ;  Luther's 
action  in,  231  note;  rapid  spread 
through  Germany,  ib.;  shook  the 
foundations  of  Rome,  ib. 

Relics,  revenue  from  in  time  of  Re- 
formation, 228  note. 

Rhodes,  famous  for  commerce,  litera- 
ture, and  arts,  145;  Colossus  span- 
ning its  harbour,  ib. 

Roman  empire,  its  extent,  4 ;  supre- 
macy in  Palestine,  3 ;  morals,  8 ; 
citizens  in  Palestine,  48. 

Romans,  Epistle  to,  152. 

Rome,  republic  of,  8 ;  religion  of,  ib. ; 
emperors  of,  assumed  divine  titles, 
218  note  ;  overthrow  of,  214;  papal 
or  Jesuit,  distinction  between  and 
Catholic  Church  to  be  made,  220 
note ;  essentially  pagan,  221  note  ; 
temporal  power,  beginning  of,  222 
note  ;  final  overthrow  of,  234  note, 
238  note ;  denounced  by  Abbot  Joa- 


426 


INDEX. 


chim  and  his  followers,   239  note  ; 

denounced  by  Dante  and  Petrarch, 

ib. 
Route  from  Galilee  to  Jerusalem,  50 ; 

central,  60. 
Eufus,  104  note. 


S. 

Sabbath,  instructions  of  Christ  on 
sanctity  of,  71, 112. 

Sadoc,  confederate  of  Judas  the  Gaul- 
onite,  23. 

Safed,  46. 

Salamiel  referred  to,  57. 

Salome,  mother  of  St.  John,  17;  at 
the  head  of  his  home,  27  ;  related 
to  Mary,  mother  of  the  Lord,  ib.;  her 
prominence  referred  to,  xxii. 

Samaria,  people  of,  hate  Jews,  23,  65  ; 
defile  temple,  ib. ;  Jesus  at  the  well, 
63;  great  religious  movement  fol- 
lowing, 65. 

Samos,  146,  148. 

Sanhedrin,  account  of,  97  note;  as- 
sembled to  try  Jesus,  97. 

Saracens,  literature  of,  7 ;  conquests 
of  in  short  time,  229  note. 

Sardis,  site  of  one  of  Apocalyptic 
churches,  146 ;  included  in  Eoman 
province  of  Asia,  189  note ;  St.  John 
visits,  265 ;  journey  to  from  Thya- 
tira,  ib. 

Saul,  sons  of,  51. 

Schools,  Jewish,  new  era  in  education 
in  post  exile  period,  21 ;  Ezra 
trained  teachers,  ib.;  schools  in 
Jerusalem  and  provincial  towns,  ib. ; 
foreign  languages  and  literature 
studied,  ib.;  Simon  ben  Shetach 
introduced  superior  schools,  and 
ordained  youth  should  attend,  ib.; 
first  instance  of  government  educa- 
tion, ib. ;  St.  John  attends,  22. 

Scriptures  translated  into  Greek 
under  the  Ptolemies,  10,  120  note, 
152. 

Scythians,  247. 

Scythopolis,  24,  46,  50. 


Sealed,  the  hundred   and  forty-four 

thousand,  157. 
Seals,  first  five,  of  Eevelation,  196. 

Seedtime  in  Palestine,  60  note. 

Seffurieh,  66  note. 

Seleucia  and  Babylon  compared,  138. 

Seneca,  his  writings  a  high  achieve- 
ment of  mind,  8 ;  preceptor  of 
Nero,  142;  murdered  by  him,  ib. ; 
was  St.  John  brought  into  contact 
with?  260;  his  moral  maxims  often 
compared  with  those  in  gospel,  ib. ; 
connection  with  Gallic,  ib. 

Septuagint.     See  Scriptures. 

Sermon  on  the  Mount,  inauguration 
of  the  apostolic  office,  73 ;  its  pur- 
port, ib. 

Seven  churches  in  Asia  Minor,  epis- 
tles to,  167,  183 ;  St.  John  visits, 
263. 

Sharon,  plain  of,  14,  15. 

Shechem,  plain  of,  14,  15 ;  vale  of, 
beautiful  scene,  62,  81. 

Shetach,  Simon  ben,  introduces  su- 
perior schools  among  Jews,  21. 

Shiloh,  coming,  11. 

Sicarii  of  Galilee,  209  note. 

Simon  the  Cyrenian,  104  note. 

Simon  Magus,  the  large  place  he  fills 
in  primitive  Christian  history,  131. 

Simon  Zelotes,  the  least  known  of  all 
the  apostles,  74  note. 

Simon,  son  of  Camithus,  6. 

Skull  place,  Calvary,  104  note. 

Smyrna,  site  of  one  of  the  Apocalyp- 
tic churches,  146 ;  Polycarp  suffered 
martyrdom  here,  185  note,  264 ;  St. 
John  visits,  263;  journey  from 
Ephesus  to,  ib. 

Socrates,  7. 

Sohemus,  auxiliaries  from,  in  invasion 
of  Palestine  under  Titus,  209  note. 

Soldiers,  Eoman,  among  hearers  of 
John  the  Baptist,  39  note. 

Solomon,  a  type  of  the  Prince  of 
Peace,  12  ;  his  work  on  the  temple, 
56 ;  his  porch,  82  note. 

Son  of  Man,  the,  this  title  as  applied 
to  Christ,  75  note. 


INDEX. 


427 


Songs  of  degrees,  use  made  of,  24,  53. 

Soul,  immortality  of,  as  held  by  So- 
crates and  Plato,  7  note. 

"  Spirituales,"  followers  of  Joachim 
the  Franciscan,  239  note. 

Star  out  of  Jacob,  12. 

Stephen,  129  ;  his  martyrdom,  130. 

Stones  in  wall  of  Jerusalem,  great 
size  of,  57. 

Storm  on  Gennesaret,  75. 

Strabo,  account  of  Babylon,  138;  har- 
bour of  Ephesus,  146  note. 

Succoth,  33  note,  50. 

Suetonius  referred  to,  102  note,  134 
note,  137  note,  144  note. 

Sulla,  dictator,  3. 

Synagogue  schools,  21 ;  teacher  for 
every  twenty-five  children,  ib. 

Syria,  Cyrenius  or  Quirinius  governor 
of,  2 ;  territory  of  Archelaus  attached, 
5,  49,  156,  209  note,  229  note. 

Syro- Phoenician  woman,  78. 


T. 


Tabor,  landscape  from  top  of,  46 ; 
.highest peak  of  Galilee,  79  ;  accord- 
ing to  tradition,  scene  of  trans- 
figuration, ib. 

Tacitus,  testimony  of,  in  harmony  with 
evangelists,  98  note  ;  referred  to,  132 
notes,  133  note,  134  note,  142  note,  143, 
161,  197  note. 

Tamerlane,  Ottomans  put  in  check  by, 
229  note. 

Taxing  at  birth  of  Christ,  2  note ;  com- 
pleted after  death  of  Herod,  5. 

Tell  Hum  supposed,  by  some,  site  of 
Capernaum,  49. 

Temple  at  Jerusalem,  its  splendour, 
54 ;  beautified  by  Herod  the  Great, 
ib. ;  purified  by  Christ,  ib.  ;  de- 
scription of  by  Josephus,  56  ;  naos 
rebuilt  by  Herod,  57;  destroyed, 
160. 

Tertullian  on  question  of  St.  John's 
marriage,  27;  referred  to,  199  note, 
384  note. 

Theanthropos,  182  note. 


Theophilus  of  Antioch,  no  traces  of 

chiliasm  in  writings  of,  245  note. 
Theophylact    referred    to,    28    note; 

dates  Apocalypse  in  time  of  Nero,. 

171. 

Thucydides  referred  to,  129  note. 
Thyatira,  site  of  one  of  Apocalyptic 

churches,   146,   156,   187  note;  St. 

John  visits,  264 ;  journey  to  from 

Pergamos,  ib. 

Tiberias,  two  towns  of  this  name,  47. 
Tiberius,  Caligula,  and  Nero,  9. 
Tigris,  49,  124. 
Titus  succeeds  Vespasian  in  command 

against  Jerusalem,  143 ;  gives  orders 

to  demolish,  160 ;  becomes  emperor, 

259. 

Tongues  of  flame  at  Pentecost,  126. 
Towers  of  Jerusalem,  55. 
Traditionary  history  of  St.  John,  384. 
Trajan,  141. 
Tralles,  church  at,  155. 
Transfiguration  of  Christ,  scene  of, on 

Great  Hermon,  79  ;  its  design,  80. 
Trumpet,  the  first,  203  note ;  second, 

204    note ;    third,    ib. ;    fourth,   205 

notes  ;  fifth,  205  notes. 
Tyndale  referred  to,  128  note. 
Tyre  and  Sidon,  coasts  of,  49,  72,  78 

note,  144. 
Tyropoeon  valley,  55,  56. 

U. 

Upper   chamber   in    Jerusalem,    122 
note. 

V. 

Valedictory   discourse,    Christ's,  90; 

general  scope,  91. 
Valerian,  220  note. 
Valerius,  Gratus,  procurator,  succeeds 

Annius    Rufus,  6;   deposes  Annas, 

ib. 

Varus,  governor  of  Syria,  2  note. 
Vatican,    Muza's   threat   concerning, 

229  note. 
Venus,  Cnidus  celebrated  for  worship 

of,  145. 


428 


INDEX. 


Vespasian  in  command  of  army  in 
Judaea,  143 ;  received  commission 
from  Nero,  212  note ;  proclaimed 
emperor,  ib. ;  gives  his  son  Titus 
command,  ib. 

Vesuvius,  eruption  of,  destroys  Pliny 
and  overwhelms  Pompeii  and  Her- 
culaneum,  259. 

Virgil  and  Isaiah,  10  note. 

w. 

Waldenses,  edict  against,  of  Alexander 
III.,  223  note;  the  number  of  who 
perished  in  war  with  papal  Rome, 
237  note. 

War,  civil,  among  Jews,  3. 

Well  of  Jacob,  64. 

Widow  of  Nain,  70. 

Wilderness  of  Judsea,  33  note,  36. 

Witnesses,  the  two,  161. 

Woman  of  Samaria  meets  Christ  at 
the  well,  64 ;  His  conversation  with 
her,  ib. ;  the  result,  65. 


Women  lamenting  on  way  to  Calvary, 

104. 
Worship,  remarkable  season  of,  129. 


Xenophon  referred  to,  198  note. 
Xerxes  assembles  army  against  Greece 

in  Sardis,  109  note. 
Xystus  in  Jerusalem,  55. 


Z. 


Zacharias,  father  of  the  Baptist,  33. 

Zealots  of  Jerusalem,  worship  of,  209 
note. 

Zebedseus,  father  of  St.  John,  17; 
man  of  worldly  substance,  19  ;  pro- 
bable early  deafch,  ib. 

Zerubbabel,  162. 

Zion,  Mount,  55. 


INDEX  OF  SCRIPTURE  REFERENCES. 


OLD     TESTAMENT. 


GENESIS. 

PAGE 

xvii.  11-26     .     . 

PAGE 

62 

NEHEMIAH. 

PAGE 

i  1              ... 

278 

xviii.  15     .     .    11 

,307 

iii.  1      .... 

299 

i.-viii  

21 

xix.  5    .     .     .  '  . 

319 

viii.  1-8     ... 

21 

xii.  3     .... 

10 

xxi.  22,23.     .     . 

371 

xii.  39  .... 

299 

xii.  6      .... 

64 

xxii.  21      .     .     . 

318 

xiii.14  .... 

61 

JOB. 

xviii.  11      .     .     . 

60 

JOSHUA. 

ix.  17    .    .    .     . 

200 

xxviii.  12  .     .     . 

60 

iv.  1-8  . 

52 

xxxii.  1,2,22       . 

52 

PSALMS. 

xlix.  10      .     .     11 

,120 

xviii.  24     ... 

61 

ii                     .     . 

214 

ii  9 

216 

EXODUS. 

JUDGES. 

xvi.  7     .... 

397 

iii.  14   .    .    .    . 
xii.  8      .... 

308 

87 
227 

xxi.  12  .... 
xxi.  19  .... 

61 

62 

xxii  

xii.  9     .     .     .     . 

•vll7111        19        1*} 

370 
345 

CO 

xxiv.  10     ... 

193 

XlVllj.    1  _,  It)  . 

Ixii  

Oo 

45 

I.  SAMUEL. 

Ixxii.  16    ... 

42 

LEVITICUS. 

vii.  12,13.     .     . 

12 

Ixxxii.  6    ... 

329 

i.  18  

21 

xv.  23   .... 

209 

Ixxxix.  3,4     .. 

316 

xvi.  17  .... 

91 

xx.30   .     .     .     . 

176 

civ.  2    .... 

203 

xvi.  21  .... 

282 

cxiv.-cxviii.  .     . 

21 

xix.  18  .... 

394 

II.  SAMUEL 

cxx.-cxxxiv.  .     . 

24 

xx.  10    .... 

318    \ 

cxxxii.  1     ... 

316 

xxiii.  40     ... 

201 

ii   8 

51 

cxxxii.  11,12  .     . 

256 

xxvi.  26     ... 

198 

vii.  16  .... 

256 

cxxxvi.      .     .     . 

21 

NUMBERS. 

I.  KINGS. 

PROVERBS. 

xv.  1-9  .... 

186 

viii.  25  .... 

12 

viii.  22-31     .     . 

279 

xxxi.  15,16     .     . 

186 

xviii.  18     ... 

34 

xxxiii.  3      ... 

87 

xix.  11  .... 

200 

ISAIAH. 

DEUTERONOMY. 
vi.  4  21 

II.  KINGS. 

vi.  2      .     .     .     . 
vi.  9,  10     .     .     . 

203 
341 

ix.  26-29   .     .     . 

62 

ii.  19-22    .     .     . 

52 

vii.  14  .     .     .     . 

120 

xvi.  16  .... 

24 

xxi.  12,13.     .160,211 

vii.  20  .     . 

208 

xvii.  6    .... 

319 

xxiii.  16     ... 

61 

ix.6,7  .     .     -     . 

214 

430 


INDEX    OF    SCRIPTURE    REFERENCES. 


PAGE 

EZEKIEL. 

JOEL. 

xi.  1          .    .     17  256 

PAGE 

PAGE 

vi     fi-Q                                  1  0 

i                                140 

i.  7-18  .     .         .    206 

XI.    U    «7  »        •        •        •            -Lv 

xxii.  22      ...     182 

i.  5   ....  140,193 

ii.  3-9    ....    206 

vvvi   1Q                         SSI 

i  28               .     .     182 

ii.  10,  31    ...    199 

AA.V1.    -Le7            •          •           .           OO.L 

xxxiv.  11  .     .160,211 

iii.  1-3  ....     211 

xxxv.  5,  6  .     .     .     120 

iv.  10,16   ...     198 

AMOS. 

xxxv  9                      10 

xxxviii.  2,  3,  16, 

vii.  8,9      .     .160,211 

xl.  9      ....     120 

18     ....    247 

OBADIAH. 

xl.  22    ....     200 

xxxix.  1-11.    .     .     247 

Yer.  21      ...     214 

xli.  27  ....     120 

xl.  2       ....    250 

xliii.  1-3    .    .     .     120 

xlvii  140 

MlC  AH. 

liii.  .     .     .40,120,341 

v.  2  ....  120,  316 

liii.  3     ....      67 
liii.  7     ....    19.5 

DANIEL. 

HAGGAI. 
ii.  6-8    ....     120 

Ixv.  17,  18      .    .    249 

ii.  34,  35    ...    205 

ii  7  32 

Ixv.  25      ...      10 

ii.  34,35,44   .    .     214 

ZECHABJAH. 

vii.  2     ....    200 

iv               .         .     212 

JEREMIAH. 

vii.  3     ....     219 

iv.  7      ....     204 

vii.  12-14  ...       62 

vii.  9-14    ...     140 

vi.  1-5  ....     200 

xxvi.  6  ....      62 

vii.  25  ....     217 

ix  9                .         120 

xlix.  36      ...     200 

x.  4-9   ....     182 

xiv.  9     ....     214 

li.  7  225 

x.  13     ....     203 

xii.  2     ....     331 

MALACHI. 

xii.  7     ....    217 

iii  1                   34  120 

LAMENTATIONS. 

xii.  11    ....     217 

iii.  2  .     .         .         287 

ii.  8.    .    .    .160,211 

xiii.       ....     226 

iv.  5  .    .    .34,  120,  281 

NEW    TESTAMENT. 

PAGE 

PAGE 

MATTHEW. 

PAGE 

ix.9-17     ...      69 
ix.  10    .     .     .     .       69 

xvi.  21,23.     .     .       79 
xvii.  22,  23    ..      81 

iii.  1      ....      36 

ix.  18-26    ...       70 

xviii.  1-35      .     .       81 

iii.ll     ....      38 

x.  3  ....     48,  69 

xviii.  10     ...     203 

iv.  12    ....      60 

x.  32,  33    ...    189 

xix.  28       ...      83 

iv.  15    ....      17 

x.  34,  36    ...    197 

xx.  20  ...      17,  19 

iv.  21    .     .     .     .      46 

xi.  11     ....      37 

xx.  20-28  .    .     30,  83 

iv.  23,25  .     .     .19,68 

xi.  14    ....       34 

xx.  22  .     ...    120 

v.  1,2   ....      73 

xi.  23    ....      49 

xx.  22,23  ...    171 

v.  14     ....      46 

xi.  27    ....     275 

xxi.  1-17    ...     337 

v.  29     ....    185 

xii.  28,  29  ...    245 

xxi.  2,3     ...       85 

viii.  5-13  .    .    69,  298 

xiii.  54  ....    297 

xxi.  8-16    ...     144 

viii.  14  ....      27 

xiv.  13  ....     306 

xxi.  12,  13      .     .     287 

viii.  20.     ...      75 

xvi.  13-28.    .     .      79 

xxi.  17  ....     116 

INDEX   OP    SCRIPTURE    REFERENCES. 


431 


xxii.  15-22     . 

PAGE 

.      99 

MARK. 

PAGE 

xvi.  1    ... 

PAGE 

46,  373 

xxiv  .... 

167 

i  19 

46 

xvi.  1^4     .     . 

.    112 

xxiv.  6-8  .     . 

.     198 

i.  20  .     .     .     . 

19 

xvi.  5-7     .     . 

.    373 

xxiv.  7  ... 

198 

i.  21-28 

68 

xvi.  5-8     .     . 

.    113 

xxiv.  10     .     . 

.     197 

i.  35-39      .     . 

.      68 

xvi.  14  ... 

.    113 

xxiv.  14      .     . 

.     197 

ii.  14-22    .     . 

.      69 

xvi.  14-18  .     . 

.     114 

xxiv.  15-22    . 

.     158 

ii.  15     .     .     . 

.       69 

xvi.  19,  20.     . 

.    116 

xxiv.  24     .     . 

.    244 

iii.  8,  9  .     .     . 

.      72 

xxiv.  29     .      . 

.     199 

iii.  17    .     .     . 

.      72 

LUKE. 

xxiv.  30,  31     . 

.     200 

iii.  18    ... 

.      48 

i.  5-13  .     .     . 

.      33 

xxv.  31  seq.     . 

.    248 

iv.  35-41    .     . 

.      75 

i  15 

34 

xxv.  31-40      . 

.    214 

v.  22-43    .     . 

.      70 

i  17 

34 

xxvi.  6-13.     . 

.      84 

vi.  1  .     .    .     . 

297 

i.  32,  33 

206 

xxvi.  13     .     . 

.    330 

vi.  7-13     .     . 

.      75 

i.  76.     .     .     . 

•         A\J\J 

32 

xxvi.  17-19    . 

.      88 

vi.  9-11     .     . 

.     114 

ii.  1-7   ... 

2 

xxvi.  18     .     . 

.     123 

vi.  19-23   .     . 

.      43 

ii.  35     ... 

.    107 

xxvi.  22     .     . 

.    158 

vi.  33    .     .     . 

.     306 

ii.  41     .     .     . 

.      22 

xxvi.  31-35    . 

.    348 

vi.  40    ... 

.    306 

iii.  1,  2  .     .     . 

2 

xxvi.  36-46    . 

,    360 

viii.  27-30.     . 

.      79 

iv.  14    ... 

.      48 

xxvi.  38     .     . 

.    339 

ix.  30-32   .     . 

.      81 

iv.  23    .     .     . 

2,297 

xxvi.  39     .     . 

.      93 

ix.  33-50  .     . 

.      81 

iv.  33-37  .     . 

.      68 

xxvi.  45     .     . 

.      93 

ix.  38    ... 

.      29 

iv.  42-44    .     . 

.      68 

xxvi.  55    . 

.      64 

ix.  38-41   .     . 

.      81 

v.  1-11  .     .     . 

.      68 

xxvi.  63     .     . 

.      98 

x.  39     .     .     . 

.      83 

v.  4,  5    .    .     . 

.    377 

xxvi.  65     .     . 

.    302 

xi.  1-11     .     . 

.    337 

v.  27-39     .    . 

.,     69 

xxvi.  71      .     . 

96,  363 

xi.  11,  19,  20  . 

.    116 

v.  29      .    .     . 

.      69 

xxvi.  73     .     . 

.      20 

xi.  15-19   .    . 

.     287 

vi.  12,  13  .     . 

.       72 

xxvii.  11    .     . 

.      99 

xiii.  3-5     .     . 

.      84 

vii.  1,  10    .     . 

.      69 

xxvii.  12-14  . 

.    100 

xiv.  15  ... 

.    123 

vii.  11-17  .     . 

.      70 

xxvii.  15,  16  . 

.     101 

xiv.  30  ... 

.      90 

vii.  19-35  .     . 

.      70 

xxvii.  19    .     . 

.     102 

xiv.  41,  42      . 

.      93 

vii.  37,  38  .     . 

.    330 

xxvii.  21,  22  . 

.     102 

xiv.  54  ... 

.    363 

viii.  1-3     .     . 

.      74 

xxvii.  24,  25  . 

.    102 

xiv.  60-64.    . 

.      98 

viii.  3    ... 

.    297 

xxvii.  26-30  . 

.    102 

xiv.  66  ... 

.      95 

viii.  22-25     . 

.       75 

xxvii.  28    .     . 

;     103 

xiv.  68  ... 

95,96 

viii.  41-56      . 

.      70 

xxvii.  32    .     . 

.     104 

xiv.  71,72.    . 

.      96 

ix.  29     .     .     . 

.      79 

xxvii.  34    .     . 

.    105 

xv.  2     ... 

.      99 

ix.  43-45    .    . 

.      81 

xxvii.  37    .     . 

.    106 

xv.  6-15    .     . 

.     101 

ix.  46-50   .     . 

.      81 

xxvii.  39-44  . 

.    106 

xv.  12   ... 

.     102 

ix.  49    .     .     . 

.      29 

xxvii.  45-56  . 

.    108 

xv.  17   .     .     . 

.     103 

ix.  49,50    .     . 

.      81 

xxvii.  52    .     . 

.     331 

xv.  21    .     .     . 

.    104 

ix.  51-56   .     . 

.      81 

xxvii.  56    .     . 

.      17 

xv.  26    .     .     . 

.     106 

ix.  54    .    .    . 

29,  132 

xxvii.  57-60  . 

.    112 

xv.  33-41  .     . 

.    108 

ix.  55    ... 

.     120 

xxvii.  62-66  . 

.    112 

xv.  40  ... 

.      17 

x.  18     .     .    . 

.    216 

xxviii.  1-4 

.    112 

xv.  42,  43  .    -. 

.    372 

x.  22      .    .     . 

.    275 

xxviii.  5-7 

.    373 

xv.  42-46  .     . 

.    112 

x.  38-42    .    . 

.    328 

432 


INDEX    OF    SCRIPTURE    REFERENCES. 


PAGE 

PAGE 

PAGE 

xi.  1-13     . 

.     .     328 

xxiv.  12     ... 

114 

xiv.  26  .     .     . 

.          91 

xi.  24    .    . 

.    .238 

xxiv.  13-35    .     . 

114 

xvi.  12,  13      . 

.      91 

xii.  5     .     . 

.    .     185 

xxiv.  34     ... 

114 

xviii.  4-6    . 

.      93 

xii.  8,  9      . 

.     .     189 

xxiv.  36-49    .     . 

114 

xviii.  15     .     . 

.       19 

xii.  50   .     . 

.    .    339 

xxiv.  50     ... 

116 

xviii.  19-24    . 

.       96 

xiii.  18  .     . 

.    .      82 

xxiv.  50-53    .     . 

116 

xix.  25  .     .     . 

.       89 

xiii.  32  .     . 

.     .    100 

xix.  25-27  . 

27,59 

xvii.  26-30 
xviii  8  . 

.     .     248 
246 

ST.  JOHN. 

xix.  26  .     .     . 
xix.  27 

.      28 

xix.  4    .     . 

.    .      53 

i  7  9 

71 

xix.  30  . 

108 

xix.  29-44  . 

.    .    337 

i  21 

34 

xix.  33 

112 

xix.  41-44  . 

.    .    338 

i.  29  

39 

xix.  34-37  .     . 

.     112 

xix.  44  .     . 

.    .    160 

i  33 

44 

xix.  38-42  . 

112 

xix.  45-48. 

.    .    287 

i.  35-42      .     .     . 

39 

xix.  40  .     .     . 

.           1    1  — 

.     269 

xxi. 

.    .     167 

i  41 

47 

xx.  1-18 

112 

xxi.  12  .     . 

.     .    197 

i  45 

13 

xx.  3-10 

114 

xxi.  24  .     . 

.159,212 

ii.  11     .... 

48 

xx.  8      .     .     . 

.     Ill 

xxi.  25,  26 

.     .    199 

ii.  12     .     .     .     . 

49 

xx.  11-18  .     . 

.     114 

xxi.  37  .     . 

.    .    116 

ii.  13-17     .     .     . 

54 

xx.  19-23  .     . 

.     114 

xxii.  7-14  . 

.    .      85 

ii.  21,  22    ... 

55 

xx.  22   .     .     . 

.       28 

xxii.  17      . 

.    .      87 

ii.  23     .... 

58 

xx.  24-29  .     . 

.     115 

xxii.  19,  20 

.     .      90 

iii.  5-16     .     .     . 

58 

xx.  30,  31  .     . 

.    271 

xxii.  24-30 

.    .      87 

iii.  22     .... 

59 

xxi.  1-24    .    . 

.    116 

xxii.  26-29 

.    .     343 

iii.  23    .     .     .     . 

59 

xxi.  2    .     .     . 

.      48 

xxii.  31-33 

.    .    348 

iii.  27-36   .     .     . 

271 

xxi.  7,  10  .     . 

.      28 

xxii.  33  .     . 

.     .      90 

iii.  28-30   .     .     . 

47 

xxi.  7-20   .     . 

.      89 

xxii.  43,  44 

.     .      93 

iii.  34-36   .     .     . 

38 

xxi.  25  .     .     . 

.     271 

xxii.  59 

96,  363 

iv  2           ... 

59 

xxii.  61,  62 

.    96,364 

iv.  3-6  .... 

64 

ACTS. 

xxii.  66.     . 

.     .      97 

iv.  9  

268 

xxiii. 

101 

iv.  35    .... 

60 

i.  9-12  .     .     . 

.     116 

xxiii.  3 

99 

v.  1,  2  .     .     .     . 

269 

i.  12  .     .     .     . 

115 

xxiii.  4,  5 

100 

v  1 

71 

i.  13  .     .     .     . 

48 

xxiii   6  . 

100 

v.  16-18     .     .     . 

269 

i.  13,  14     .     . 

.    125 

xxiii.  16     . 

.     .     367 

vi.  1-7  .... 

71 

i.  14       .     .     . 

.    312 

xxiii.  22     . 

.     .     102 

vii.  13   .     .     .     . 

269 

i.  24-26      .     . 

.     123 

vri  i  i   27 

104 

vi'ii    1O 

71 

ii  2 

124 

JLXi.ll.    <—  i           . 

xxiii.  33  •   . 

•            •            J-  VT? 

.    .    104 

Ylll.     i  —    •        •        •        • 

ix.  5  

71 

ii.  8,  13  .     .     . 

.     126 

xxiii.  35-57 

106 

x 

82 

ii.  14-36     .     . 

.     126 

xxiii.  38     . 

.     .     106 

x.  37,  38    .     .    . 

121 

ii.  41     .   127, 

158,  201 

xxiii.  44-49 

.     .     108 

xi  

,82 

iii.  1-11     .    . 

.    127 

xxiii.  50-53 

.     .    112 

xii.  46    .... 

71 

iii.  12-26  .     . 

.     128 

xxiv.  1-7   . 

.    .    112 

xiii.  1-11    .     .     . 

34 

iii.  17    .     .     . 

.    105 

xxiv.  4  .     . 

.    .    113 

xiii.  21-35  .     .     . 

89 

iii.  32    .     .     . 

.      11 

xxiv.  4-8   . 

.    .,  373 

xiii.  23  .... 

28 

iv.  1-3  ... 

.     128 

xxiv.  10     . 

.     .     373 

xiii.  30  .... 

98 

iv.  5-22      .     . 

.     128 

INDEX    OP    SCRIPTURE    REFERENCES. 


433 


PAGE 

EOMANS. 

PHILIPPIANS. 

iv.  23-37    .    .    . 

129 

PAGE 

PAGE 

iv.  36    .... 

28 

i.  7    .     .                  409 

i.  2    

409 

v.  17-42     .    .    . 

129 

iv.  11     ....     321 

i.  15,  16     ... 

197 

v.  30     .... 

104 

v  1                          405 

iii.  2,  3  .     .     .     . 

183 

vi.  7.129,130,158 

,201 

ix  8                    .    321 

iv.  3  

248 

vii.  37   .... 

11 

xv.  12    ....     399 

vii.  56   .... 

75 

xvi.  11  .     .t    .     .     104 

COLOSSIANS. 

viii.  1    .     .     .     . 

130 

xvi.  23  .     .'    .     .    411 

i.  7    . 

266 

viii.  3    .... 

131 

xvi.  24  ....     179 

i.  15.     .     .      245 

,281 

viii.  4-25  .     .     . 

131 

xvi.  25  ....     179 

i.  16  .     .     .     .32 

,203 

viii.  5    .... 

296 

i.  16,17     .    .    . 

279 

ix  2       . 

131 

I.  CORINTHIANS. 

ii.  15 

i)AK. 

x.39      .... 

104 

i.  3   ....  180,  409 

iv.  12     .... 

&*±O 

266 

xi.  27-30  .    .    . 

198 

i  14                         411 

iv.  13-16    .     .     . 

266 

xii.  1,  2      ... 

134 

x.  3,  4  ....     186 

xii.  20-23  .     .     . 

140 

x.  20      ....    219 

I.  THESSALONIANS. 

xii.  24  .    .      158, 

201 

xii.  4-7.     ...     180 

xiii.  26  .... 

331 

xv.  3-8  ....     117 

iv.  13    .... 

331 

xiii.  29  .... 

104 

xv.  5     .  114,  123,  374 

XV 

141 

xv.  6     .    .      116,  376 

II.  THESSALONIANS. 

XV.  1        .... 

156 

xv.  6,  18,  31  ..     331 

ii.   3  

397 

xv.  28,  29  ... 

156 

xv.  24-28  ...     179 

ii.  7  .     .     .    . 

236 

xvi 

141 

YVI    8    Q                         9fi1 

ii  1  ^ 

OOQ 

xvi.  1     .... 

21 

A.V1.  o,  t/      .      .      •      ^iuj. 

11.   -LO         .... 

iii.  4  

£io\j 
244 

xviii  

167 

II.  CORINTHIANS. 

xviii.  2  .     .      134, 
xviii.  14     ... 

167 
211 

i.  2    .     .     .     .180,409 

I.  TIMOTHY. 

i  (tfj 

ii.  17     ...  156,  183 

i.  6    

168 

xix.  8-10    .     .     . 

ID/ 

261 

iv.  4  281 

vi.  20    .... 

263 

xix.  10  .... 
xix.  19  .... 

147 
262 

v.  8  226 
vii.  7     ....     211 

II.  TIMOTHY. 

xix.  20  .... 

158 

ix.  4,  5,  13      .     .     156 

ii.  12     .    .     .     . 

192 

xix.  29  .... 

411 

xi.  4,  5,  13     .  156,  183 

iii.  15    .... 

21 

xx.  4     .... 

411 

xii.  1     ....     179 

iv.  10,  16  ... 

197 

xx.  17    .... 

166 

GALATIANS. 

v.  2,  3  .    .     .     . 

248 

xx.  29,  30  ... 

156 

xx.  31    .... 

147 

i  3                           409 

TITUS. 

x.xi              . 

166 
25 

i.  7    .     .     .      156,  183 
i.  19  166 

iii.  5-7  .     .    .     . 

289 

xxii.  3   .... 

xxii.  4   .... 

131 

ii.  1-10.     ...     135 

xxvi  9  .          . 

130 

ii.  4  .     .     .     .  156,  183 

HEBREWS. 

xx  vi.  9-11  .     . 

355 

i  3   

17 

xxvi.  10,  11    .     . 

131 

EPHESIANS. 

ii.14     .... 

245 

xxvii.  14    ... 

145 

iii.  3  179 

vii.  4     .... 

195 

xxviii.  14  ... 

211 

v.  25,  26    ...    289 

ii.  13     .... 

12 

vi.  17    .     .     .     .    244 

xiii.  12  .     .     .     . 

369 

434 


LIST    OF   AUTHORS    AND    WORKS    REFERRED    TO. 


JAMES. 

,    I.  JOHN. 

PAGE 

PAGE 

PAGE 

ii.  6  .     .     .     . 

.       155 

i.  17 

253 

i.  1-3     . 

119 

''  -i  \ 

-IKK 

11.  14     ... 

.     155 

i.  18  

289 

ii.  18-23     .     .     . 

267 

ii.  15,  16    .     . 

.     166 

ii.  14-16     .     .     . 

405 

iv.  1-3  .... 

267 

ii.  20     .     .     . 

.     155 

iv.  8  

28 

iii.  11    ... 

.     166 

I.  PETER. 

v.  6-8    .... 

110 

iii.  14    ... 

.     153 

vi 

157 

i.  1    

138 

JlJDE. 

Vll    4 

1  EC? 

i.  2    ....  180, 

409 

4-16      .... 

186 

xi.  14    ... 

•         JLO  / 

.     166 

ii.  24     .... 

104 

6 

216 

xiii.  18  ... 

.     168 

v.  13     .... 

138 

9       

216 

xiv.  1-5      .     . 

.    158 

xvi.  15  ... 

.     166 

II.  PETER. 

BEVELATION. 

xvi.  19  ... 
xvii.  5  ... 

.     141 
.     141 

i.  2    .     .     .    .     . 

180 

i.  4,  5    .    .     .    . 

153 

xvii.  7,  12  .     . 

.     164 

ii.  10-16     .     .     . 

186 

i.  4,  11  .     .     .     . 

154 

xix.  10  ... 

.      40 

iii.  3-10     .     .     . 

248 

i.  8-18  .... 

140 

xxi.  14  ... 

.      40 

iii.  4  . 

331 

i.  13-16 

80 

xxii  

140 

ii.  7.10.  13    . 

249 

i.  15  . 

153 

xxii.  7,  12,  20 

166 

LIST  OF  AUTHORS  AND  WORKS  REFERRED  TO. 


Adam  of  St.  Victor. 

Adrian,  Pope. 

Alexander,  J.  A. 

Alford. 

Ambrose  of  Milan. 

Andreas. 

Andrews. 

Aretha  s. 

Athenagoras, 

Augustine. 

Bacon. 

Barclay. 

Barnabas. 

Barnes. 

Baumgarten. 

Baur. 

Bede. 


Bengel. 

Benson. 

Bernard. 

Beza. 

Biblical  Repository. 

Bibliotheca  Sacra. 

Bloomfield. 

Bochart. 

Bossuet. 

Braune,  Karl. 

Brocardus. 

Brown. 

Bruce. 

Burton. 

Caesar,  Julius. 

Calmet. 

Calvin. 


Campbell. 

Cassianus. 

Cave. 

Chalmers. 

Chrysostom. 

Cicero. 

Clarke,  Adam. 

Clarke,  Samuel. 

Clemens,Alexandrinus 

Clemens(MarkTwain). 

Clemens,  Eomanus. 

Coleman. 

Conybeare. 

Cowles. 

Coxe,  Cleveland. 

Crashaw. 

Croly. 

Cyril  of  Jerusalem. 


LIST    OF   AUTHORS   AND    WORKS    REFERRED    TO. 


435 


Dante.                                    Hodge.                                   Maitland. 

D'Aubigne. 

Homer.                                  Marsh. 

Daubuz. 

Hopkins,  Ezekiel.                 Martyr,  Justin. 

De  Pressense. 

Horace. 

Mason,  Erskine. 

De  Yignoles. 

Home. 

Masson. 

De  Wette. 

Howe,  Fisher. 

Mede. 

Dion  Cassius. 

Howson. 

Melanchthon. 

Dionysius  of  Alexan- 

Huss. 

Meyer. 

dria. 

Michaelis. 

Donatus,  Alexander. 

Ignatius. 

Middleton. 

Drummond. 

Irenseus. 

Milman. 

Durbin. 

Irving,  Edward. 

Milton. 

D  wight,  T. 

Moreri. 

Jacobus. 

Mosheim. 

Ebrard. 

Jameson,  Mrs. 

Edwards. 

Jerome. 

Neander. 

Elliott. 

Joachim  . 

Newcome. 

Epictetus. 
Epiphanius. 
Erasmus. 

Jones,  Sir  William. 
Josephus. 
Juvenal. 

Newman. 
Newton,  Sir  I. 
Newton,  Bishop. 

Euripides. 

N.  Y.  Observer. 

Eusebius. 

Niebuhr. 

Ewald. 

Kitto. 

Knapp. 

Olin. 

Fisher,  G.  P. 

Kuinoel. 

Olshausen. 

Flatt. 

Origen. 

Friedlieb. 

Lachmann. 

Orosius. 

Lamartine. 

Ovid. 

Geddes. 

Lampe. 

Owen,  J.  J. 

Gesenius. 

Lange. 

Gibbon. 

Lardner. 

Papias. 

Gieseler. 

Layard. 

Paulus. 

Gill. 

Le  Clerc. 

Payson,  C.  H. 

Ginsburg,  Ch.  D. 

Lee,  Professor. 

Peter,  John. 

Gladstone,  W.  E. 

Lewis,  Tayler. 

Petrarch. 

Goldsmith. 

Liddon. 

Philo. 

Greswell. 

Lightfoot. 

Pierotti. 

Griesbach. 

Lillie. 

Plato. 

Grotius. 

Limborch. 

Pliny. 

Guericke. 

Lipsius. 

Pliny  the  Younger. 

Longfellow. 

Plumptre. 

Hegesippus. 

Lord,  D.  N. 

Plutarch. 

Hengstenberg. 

Lowman. 

Polycarp. 

Henry,  Matthew. 

Liicke. 

Poole. 

Herder. 

Luthardt. 

Porter,  J.  L. 

Hermas. 

Luther. 

Puigblanch. 

Herodotus, 

Lynch, 

Pyle. 

436 


LIST    OF   AUTHORS    AND    WOBKS    EEFEKKKD    TO. 


Quarterly  Review. 

Eaumer. 

Eeland. 

Eenan, 

Eitter. 

Eobinson. 

Eouth. 

Salisbury,  E.  E. 

Scaliger. 

Schaff. 

Schlegel. 

Scholz. 

Schwegler. 

Seneca. 

Shedd. 

Smith,  Sydney. 

Smith,  William. 

Socrates. 

Southey. 

Stanley. 

Stewart,  Dugald. 

Stier. 


Storr. 

Usher. 

Strauss. 

Stroud. 

Van  de  Yelde. 

Stuart. 

Virgil. 

Suetonius. 

Yitringa. 

SurenhusiuB. 

Wagenseil. 

Tacitus. 

Wayland. 

Talmud. 

Wetstein. 

Tatian. 

Whiston. 

Tertullian. 

Wieseler. 

Theophilus  of  Antioch. 

Wilson. 

Theophylact. 

Winer. 

Tholuck. 

Wood,  J.  G. 

Thomson. 

Woodhouse. 

Thucydides. 

Wordsworth. 

Tillemont. 

Tilloch. 

Xenophon. 

Tittmann. 

Times. 

Zeller. 

Tischendorf. 

Zumpt. 

Trench,  F. 

Zwingle. 

•Trench,  E.  C. 

Tristram. 

Butler  *  Ttuiner,  The  Selwood  Printing  Works,  Froiuc,  and  London, 


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